NYPD Sergeant Faced Retaliation for Accusing Cops of Getting Drunk at Electric Zoo

While on leave and helping his girlfriend’s family escape war-torn Ukraine, Sgt. Jose Dume received a request from his supervisor to help get on-duty cops into VIP at EDM festival Electric Zoo last fall. It launched a weekend of alleged debauchery for the cops, who were allowed to attend while on duty and not supervised. After reporting their behavior, Dume claims that his bosses showed signs of retaliation, going so far as plotting to break in to Dume’s home while he was still on leave.

Dume filed a lawsuit, which was obtained by Rolling Stone, against his bosses on Sunday following departmental charges claiming that the sergeant did not get proper approval for his leave of absence from Manhattan Narcotics North last summer. Dume’s suit claims he has proof that his bosses had approved his time off and that they were alleging he was AWOL in response to his complaint about their behavior at the festival. 

According to the suit, Dume received a message from his supervisor Sgt. Pitman on the first day of the festival with a request for Dume to reach out to a party promoter friend so that Pitman and other officers could get VIP access and talk to women. In an interview with New York Daily News, Dume states that he did not respond. Over the course of the weekend, Pitman and other officers allegedly shared stories in a group chat of getting drunk while on duty and still armed at the festival. One officer claimed to have sex with a drunk woman in a bathroom on the grounds. All messages pertaining to Electric Zoo were allegedly deleted at the end of the weekend, according to screenshots Dume took later. 

The NYPD’s presence at Electric Zoo in 2022 has proven to be controversial beyond Dume’s allegations. Three Manhattan Narcotics North detectives were indicted on grand larceny charges after allegedly breaking into VIP and stealing $3000 worth of Jay-Z’s champagne brand Ace of Spades.

Dume filed an anonymous complaint about his colleagues’ actions but his department quickly deduced that the complaint came from him. Soon after, another supervisor named Deputy Inspector John Wilson interrogated Dume about his time off. 

“I thought you were dead. What is a Dominican doing in Ukraine?” Wilson said to Dume, according to the suit. Dume is of Dominican heritage. 

In further retaliation, Dume’s supervisors attempted to change the sergeant’s grade evaluation. He had already been evaluated in 2022, given a 4.5 out of 5. Wilson wanted to lower it to 2.5. Since Dume works undercover, his evaluations are done on paper, as opposed to electronically. While he was still in Europe, Dume had a trusted friend move the evaluation from his apartment to a safe location. He would later learn from colleagues that his supervisors had instructed cops to go to Dume’s home and retrieve the original evaluation. The cops could not figure out his address and his home was never broken into. 

According to the suit, Dume was still able to be promoted from detective to sergeant in December, which caused further ire from his supervisors. He no longer works in narcotics, having been since assigned to Manhattan Housing Bureau unit.

Dume also took a financial hit from the ordeal, being denied overtime and having to move his girlfriend and their four-year-old son to North Carolina out of fear following the alleged break-in attempt. 

“Going through this was nerve-wracking — scary,” Dume told Daily News. “I don’t know how far they’d go with this.”