New York Police Department (NYPD) detectives were mistaken for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and reportedly treated rudely by hospital staff as they were seeking medical attention for wounds incurred in the line of duty.
The detectives reportedly checked into the NYU Langone/Cobble Hill Hospital in Brooklyn following a violent altercation with a drug suspect.
“[Hospital staff] were nasty to the officers in the waiting room, accused them of being ICE and suggested they go elsewhere,” one source told the New York Post.
“They properly identified themselves,” another source said. “It’s despicable to attempt to deny care or suggest they go elsewhere.”
According to Fox News, an NYPD spokesperson confirmed that the hospital apologized to Police Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch over the incident.
“Representatives from the hospital apologized to Commissioner Tisch and the NYPD and said hospital staff had a misunderstanding of their policy,” the spokesperson said. “Commissioner Tisch asked that all hospital staff be retrained to ensure that this type of incident never happens again.”
The hospital also told Fox News that it expressed to the commissioner “our regret for how the situation was handled and reaffirmed our commitment to continue providing the highest quality care to the New York Police Department and all law enforcement agencies.”
NYU Langone defended itself by noting it provided care to nearly 1,000 NYPD officers in 2025.
“We provided care to the injured officer who was asked to temporarily secure his weapon, as per our policy,” a hospital representative said. “The other two officers were allowed to keep their weapons. NYU Langone always values the opportunity to provide care to members of law enforcement.”
The NYPD Detectives’ Endowment Association called the officers’ treatment an “outrage.”
“It is an outrage that any NYPD detective injured in the line of duty should have to worry about being treated at any hospital in the city they protect,” the group said. “As nurses across the city strike over issues like workplace safety, treating detectives poorly is not how to make hospitals safer.”
“No one — especially detectives injured in the line of duty — should face such treatment,” the statement added.
Considering that refusal to provide care would be a violation of the Hippocratic Oath, New York City councilwoman Vickie Paladino said the hospital staff treated the officers “with contempt completely outside ethical bounds for medical personnel.”
“From what I understand, staff supposedly did this because they thought the NYPD officers might have been ‘ICE agents’ as if that is a valid excuse to refuse a patient,” said Paladino. “Let’s be very clear about something — when doctors and nurses and medical staff begin to refuse critical care over perceived political differences, we will have reached a breaking point in this country.”
“If this behavior is allowed to continue, and is not met with swift condemnation and consequences by the mayor and government leadership of New York as well as medical licensing boards and the professional community at large, trust in the medical profession will be shattered beyond repair,” she continued.
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