NEW YORK — Former interim Police Commissioner Tom Donlon is taking another run at litigating Mayor Eric Adams' administration, on Wednesday filing charges in state court that he was retaliated against for sounding the alarm on corruption in the upper ranks of the Police Department.

The 40-page suit largely reiterates charges Donlon made in his previous federal suit, which was dismissed last month after a judge found his allegations lacked specificity and didn’t sufficiently allege violations of federal law.

Donlon was brought on to lead the NYPD on an interim basis in September 2024, after Edward Caban resigned from the post amid a federal investigation. He served in the role for two months.

In the office, Donlon found “serious misconduct, corruption, and abuses of authority,” he alleged in the Manhattan Supreme Court suit, which names just the City of New York as a plaintiff.

“His authority was systematically undermined; he was excluded from operational decisions, denied control over senior appointments, and blocked from implementing merit-based reforms,” the suit says. “After escalating his objections and refusing to lend his name or office to actions he reasonably believed unlawful and improper, Donlon was removed from his position.”

The dismissed federal suit laid out many of the same charges, including that former Adams ally and top NYPD spokesperson Tarik Sheppard threatened to “kill” him and that former Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey manipulated his schedule.

“The City’s legal papers in the federal case discuss why these state claims have no merit,” Nicholas Paolucci, a spokesperson for the city Law Department, said in response to the new suit.

John Scola, Donlon’s attorney, argued the federal dismissal was simply procedural.

“We refiled because Tom Donlon reported corruption that directly harmed rank-and-file NYPD officers — promotions that were rigged, transfers that were blocked, a system that rewarded loyalty over merit — and the City fired him for it,” Scola said in a statement.

Donlon also filed a defamation suit against Adams and Tarik Sheppard in January.

_____

©2026 New York Daily News. Visit nydailynews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.