Former NYPD sergeant left Rikers after being housed near cop killer

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By Tina Moore And Matthew Sédacca

Former New York Police Sgt. and whistleblower Steven Lee was transferred from Rikers Island to Westchester County Jail — almost immediately after the Post shed light on his incarceration alongside a cop killer and a drug dealer murderer in the famous Big Apple prison.

Lee, who helped bring to light a corruption scandal at a karaoke bar a decade ago in a Queens neighborhood, was sentenced to six months in Rikers jail in May for his involvement in an off-duty fight. hours of service at a Chelsea nightclub in 2021. He was convicted of two counts of assault.

“People say cops should break the 'blue wall of silence' and expose corruption in the NYPD. Well, that’s why the cops aren’t talking,” he told The Post on Friday from Westchester Prison, where he is being held in solitary confinement to protect him from other inmates.

“Their careers will be derailed, they will be targeted and arrested, maliciously prosecuted and will not receive any help or feedback because people are afraid of retaliation from the criminal justice system against them.

Lee had previously admitted to punching a man during the fight, but claimed the brawler was not that seriously injured and that he had tried to protect a woman who was being sexually assaulted.

Another person in Lee's group seriously injured someone during the fight and was charged.

Some of the cops who arrested Lee the night of the fight were the same ones he had previously helped investigate, including a detective he had arrested, the inmate said.

After 18 years with the NYPD, Lee was fired following a lawsuit within the department.

“Everything I did was the right thing, I kept my oath and I demonstrated integrity, but I [got] targeted and punished for it and there was no public outrage that a whistleblower would be punished in this way,” Lee said.