NYPD brass says in street stop trial that he never punished whistle-blower officer on quotas

NEW YORK – A New York City police official says he didn't tell his officers to stop only blacks and Hispanics, and he didn't set quotas.

Deputy Inspector Christopher McCormack says he didn't wrongly punish an officer under his command, Pedro Serrano, for not making enough arrests. McCormack testified Monday in a federal civil rights challenge to the police practice known as stop, question and frisk.

Serrano used to work in the 40th precinct in the Bronx. He secretly recorded a heated exchange with McCormack and other officials earlier this year during an appeal of his performance evaluation. He says he believes McCormack punished him for not making enough arrests and says he told him to stop minorities.

McCormack says he "absolutely never" told officers to make race-based stops.