Cops quit Stringer’s security detail after chauffeuring wife
City Comptroller Scott Stringer didn’t dump his NYPD security detail — they asked for a transfer because he made them drive his wife to work and chewed them out for being late, sources close to the detectives told The Post on Wednesday.
An angry Stringer called the cops at 8:30 a.m. Oct. 22 and ripped them for being a half-hour late to pick up his wife, Elyse Buxbaum, at their Upper West Side pad, sources close to the detectives said.
“He calls and says, ‘Where are you guys? It’s raining and my wife needs to go to work!’ He’s very pissed off,” a source said. “The detectives are baffled because he never notified them of this change of plans.”
The cops thought they were only supposed to pick up Stringer at 11:15 a.m. to go to a Bronx event that day.
After getting yelled at, the duo arrived at Stringer’s place at 8:38 a.m. and took Buxbaum to the Jewish Museum, where she works as the director of institutional giving, the sources said.
Stringer went along for the ride — even though he had no official business — to avoid violating city rules that forbid the detail from chauffeuring a public official’s spouse alone.
‘HE CALLS AND SAYS, “WHERE ARE YOU GUYS? IT’S RAINING AND MY WIFE NEEDS TO GO TO WORK!” HE’S VERY PISSED OFF.’
– A source
Sources said the comptroller often lets his city-funded security detail drive his wife to and from work — but he’s always in the car, too.
“He’s a very astute politician,” a source said. “For added cover, he would sometimes put things on his public schedule around the time she was being driven around.”
After dropping her off on Oct. 22, the security team brought Stringer directly back to his apartment and left, sources said.
They returned at 11:15 a.m. to shuttle Stringer to The Bronx.
About 12 hours later, the same two cops dropped the comptroller off at his favorite Upper West Side bar, called Amber — and a still-seething Stringer slipped out and walked home without warning them, the sources said.
The worried officers, who were parked across the street, called him when they realized he was gone — but only reached his voicemail. A staffer finally phoned them around 12:30 a.m. to say Stringer was home.
The furious cops marched into their boss’ office the next day with two other disgruntled detectives on Stringer’s detail and asked to be reassigned.
“They got fed up with his bad treatment of them and asked their supervisor for a transfer,” a source said.
Their account contravenes claims by sources in Tuesday’s Post that Stringer dumped the four cops.
Those sources said Stringer was angry that two of the detectives arrived late for his 11:15 a.m. pickup and later didn’t notice him leaving the bar. The sources said the other two cops were dropped for questioning his treatment of their colleagues.
Stringer spokesman Eric Sumberg denied the detectives’ account, saying, “This story is false and a complete fabrication.”
Michael Palladino, head of the detectives union, said: “For security details to operate successfully, a level of trust must exist between the detectives and the elected official.
It was not the detectives who breached that trust.”
Stringer was seen leaving his Upper West Side digs early Thursday morning with his toddler son Max and two members of his security detail. He told a Post reporter that he didn’t have a comment and smiled as he entered an idling GMC Yukon.