NCPD Confirms Detectives Named In Ellis Lawsuit Have All Retired

NASSAU COUNTY, NY — Nassau County police confirmed to Patch Wednesday that the five NCPD detectives named in a civil rights suit filed Tuesday have retired.

The five detectives — John Comiskey, George Pierce, Robert Shaw, Richard Wells and Robert Winter — are listed as codefendants alongside Nassau County in a suit filed on behalf of Christopher Ellis, a Brooklyn man who was convicted of murder in 1993 before the conviction was vacated in 2021.

In Tuesday's suit, Ellis's attorneys claimed that each of the detectives had played a role in the trial that ended with Ellis convicted and sentenced to over 30 years in prison.

Ellis and his attorneys are seeking punitive damages from the detectives and compensatory damages from both the detectives and Nassau County, both "in an amount to be determined at trial," the complaint reads.

Tuesday, one of Ellis' attorneys declined to list a dollar amount that Ellis and his counsel were hoping for, saying they hoped a jury would weigh in on the question.