NYPD’s Finest: 16 Year Veteran And Recipient Of “Cop Of The Month” Award Charged With Assaulting And Choking Wife

An off-duty police officer and 16-year veteran of the force was arrested Saturday on domestic abuse charges alleging that he beat and choked his wife in front of the couple’s teenage daughter at their home in Jamaica, Queens.

Officer Richard Phipps, 42, who just three years earlier had received the “Cop of the Month” award after arresting his second armed burglar, was seen by neighbors attacking his wife at approximately 7:30 A.M. Saturday.

A spokesperson for the NYPD said that his wife was not seriously hurt.

Phipps was officially charged with criminal obstruction of breathing, assault, harassment and acting in a manner injurious to a child.

Unrelated, Phipps was arraigned in conjunction with NYPD Traffic Agent Keith Jenson, 32, also of Jamaica, Queens. Jenson violated an order of protection filed by his girlfriend after a viral video showed him choking her in 2015. Despite his new criminal record, the NYPD declined at the time to fire Jenson.

He was charged Saturday with assault, harassment and criminal contempt.