By Peter Sorkin
Fong will now hold the title of executive officer of City Housing in Manhattan, said Police Officer Theresa Farello, a police spokeswoman.
Fong fell out of favor with many in the community who said Capt. Joseph Culbert, the head of the 104th Precinct at the time of the bias incident, had done a great job of reducing crime and connecting with residents. Culbert was replaced by Capt. Thomas Cusanelli from the Queens North Task Force.
Culbert was transferred to a night position in the Strategic and Tactical Command, which polices northern Brooklyn, after only about three months at the helm of the 104th Precinct, which covers Ridgewood, Maspeth, Glendale and Middle Village. He now works as a captain of investigations at the command, said Ivonne Vega, a police spokeswoman.
In March, Culbert was on duty in Brooklyn for Patrick Dorismond's funeral and talking on a cell phone with Fong, the Police Department's highest-ranking Asian-American.
Culbert thought he had disconnected his cellular phone, but it remained hooked into Fong's voice mail system as Culbert, a lieutenant, and another police officer whose name was not released, began joking about Fong's race.
The two officers asked Culbert how he could take orders from someone who looks like a Chinese food delivery man.
Robert Holden, president of the Juniper Park Civic Association, said the incident in question was a story in which Fong walked into a station house wearing a white suit carrying a paper bag and was mistaken for a delivery man.
He said Culbert only laughed when the officers in his car made what were described as anti-Asian remarks about Fong. The three officers continued to make jokes about Fong's ethnicity as the conversation continued to be recorded on Fong's voice mail.
The conversation was played back later by Fong, who then reported it to Deputy Police Commissioner Neldra M. Zeigler, who was in charge of investigating complaints of discrimination and harassment, the reports said. The incident was then routed to the Internal Affairs Bureau.
For several weeks after Culbert's transfer, supporters of the captain rallied against his controversial transfer.
