Police Commissioner Ray Kelly on Wednesday rejected a union demand that he fire the head of the Internal Affairs Bureau over its probe of the off-duty cop who got brutally beaten outside a Queens diner early Sunday.
Kelly defended the IAB’s actions in searching the car of Sgt. Mohamed Deen and questioning his wife at the hospital after the vicious assault, which cops said came after Deen argued with his attacker at a night club.
“Interviewing witnesses is standard procedure,” Kelly told reporters before the annual Police Athletic League luncheon at Manhattan’s Pierre Hotel.
When asked a follow-up question about the IAB probe, Kelly curtly said: “I already answered the question.”
On Tuesday, the Sergeants Benevolent Association called for the ouster of IAB Chief Charles Campisi for his treatment of Deen and wife Ashley Raghoo-Deen, who the union blocked from being grilled a second time.
Union President Ed Mullins said Campisi “overstepped the scope of his duties” by investigating Deen and “harassed” his wife as she kept a bedside vigil for him.
Queens mechanic Hayden Holder, 29, is charged with attempted murder and assault in the attack on Deen, which was recorded on a cell-phone video that shows Deen getting sucker-punched and repeatedly pummeled while lying helpless in the street.
Deen, 40, suffered multiple fractures to his face and a brain hemmorhage, and is recovering at Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was transferred Tuesday night.