Impact & Excellence: Trailblazing prosecutor reflects on his ascension to Staten Island leadership – SILive.com

(Editors note: This article is part of the Advance/SILive.com Black History Month special series, Impact & Excellence, which profiles Staten Islanders who are making important, lasting impact in the community. Do you have someone you would like to nominate for an Impact & Excellence profile? E-mail their name and a brief nomination to tips@siadvance.com.)

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. Thomas Ridges remembers walking to the mailbox at the Bedford-Stuyvesant housing projects to grab his mothers welfare check, a lifeline in an area he self-described as one of the toughest in the city.

He recalls friends being arrested and the faces of victims caught in the crossfire of crime. He also recollects feeling he wanted to make a difference.

Theres got to be something different, theres got to be a way to stop this, Ridges thought at the time, he explained to the Advance/SILive.com.

Decades later, he has ascended to a leadership position at the Richmond County District Attorneys Office the first Black executive in the offices history. He serves as a member of Mayor Eric Adams transition team, has met with city leaders and President Joe Biden on the issue of gun crime and has prosecuted countless high-profile cases throughout his long tenure of public service.

But, before he reached those heights, Ridges was a Brooklyn kid growing up in the 1960s and early 1970s.

His mother, who only completed an 11th grade education, was the smartest person he ever met, said Ridges. With his father not in the picture during his formative years, he said his familys matriarch was his prime motivator.

She said, youre going to pursue your education, youre going to get your education, said Ridges, recalling conversations he had with his mother growing up.

As a teenager, he had intense interest in journalism and reached out to Mike Daly, a former columnist with the Daily News. Daly encouraged Ridges to tell stories of the place where he lived an area so often the location of negative depictions and bring to light the positive stories from the neighborhood.

He did, and it was published in print. At the time, Ridges was just 15 years old.

After attending John Jay High School in Park Slope, he would go to Penn State University in Pennsylvania before returning to New York City because of financial struggles. His persistence, however, was unmoved. Ridges would continue his undergraduate degree at St. Johns University, though monetary problems continued to offer impediments.

Years after he took a civil service test for the NYPD, Ridges said he received a final call from the department after he deferred pursuing police work for educational reasons. This time, Ridges said, he accepted the invitation.

During the summer of 1985, he attended the police academy as a 20-year-old. While being a cop was not something that initially jumped at me, its probably one of the best decisions I ever made, said Ridges.

While pursuing his new law enforcement career, Ridges was able to finish his undergraduate degree at John Jay College in Manhattan before attending St. Johns Law School.

Charles Hynes, the former Brooklyn district attorney who died in 2019, was one of Ridges professors at St. Johns. One day after class when Hynes asked him what he planned to do after his degree, Ridges always quick on his feet said, I was planning to join your office.

And he would. While the role was a pay cut from his job as a police officer, he said, everythings not about money.

Ridges would go on to work in a litany of units at the district attorneys office, including a program that dealt with officers shot, injured or put in danger by gunfire. His rapport with officers as a former cop himself made him an ideal fit for the job.

Years later, he would work in the homicide bureau in Brooklyn, where he would prosecute the men who murdered detectives Dillon Stewart, Robert Parker and Patrick Rafferty.

As his career progressed, Ridges said his motivation remained fixed: I always wanted to help people. As a cop, I got to help people. As a prosecutor, I got to help people.

MOVE TO STATEN ISLAND

Nearly two decades after he began working at the Brooklyn district attorneys office, Ridges received a call from Staten Island District Attorney Michael E. McMahon in 2016. He was offered a leadership position on the executive team.

It was my home borough, Ridges said of Staten Island. Ive lived out here since 1988, so it wasnt like I was going to Staten Island and I was a nomad or something. You know, this is where I was at my kids had been born here, my kids were raised here, went to school here. So it was a chance for me to come home in a vital role.

In accepting the appointment, Ridges became the first Black individual to hold an executive position in the office. He took office on Feb. 1, 2016, the first day of Black history month a significant marker in itself, he said and is currently the executive assistant district attorney in charge of investigations.

It was a chance to, as Shirley Chisholm used to say, have a seat at the table, said Ridges.

District Attorney Michael E. McMahon and Assistant District Attorney Thomas Ridges speak at their office in St. George on Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2022. (Staten Island Advance/Jason Paderon) Jason Paderon

He works on long-term investigations for issues ranging from economic to narcotic crimes and has successfully put some of the Islands most notorious dealers behind bars.

Ridges said his upbringing and experience helps inform decisions on cases, which can be a complex science devoid of cookie-cutter solutions.

I think thats the most critical part of being a prosecutor, said Ridges. Being able to look at a case and sift through the weeds.

Sometimes that process involves understanding the underlying motives of crime while also being receptive to victims. Two individuals charged with the same crime, he explained, could require different approaches and subsequent solutions.

While he is mostly out of the courtroom, the leadership role has afforded him the opportunity to use his life experience to provide valuable insight on the approach to Staten Island crime.

That insight is especially useful regarding the ongoing drug epidemic that has devastated the borough for years.

Ridges said he appreciates McMahons understanding that you cant arrest your way out of every problem, especially in the cases of those battling drug use. On the other hand, he explained, being inexorably committed to putting criminals like malicious drug dealers in prison requires forceful focus.

That focus is easier to come by when he is notified of every overdose on Staten Island an unfortunately incessant ping that reminds Ridges of the work that still needs to be done.

I have a saying that we use in the Narcotics Investigation Bureau: Were saving lives one day at a time, said Ridges. It takes a lot of patience.

Thomas Ridges in his office in St. George on Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2022. (Staten Island Advance/Jason Paderon) Jason Paderon

When Ridges worked as a police officer, he would carry pocket applications for the NYPD exam. It was a practice that caused him to receive frequent pushback.

He was called a sellout by other Black men in the community who accused him of arresting his own people. Id say, listen, have you seen the faces of the victims? They look like me too. Those are my people as well, said Ridges.

Those sentiments, however, would follow him in his work as a prosecutor. Still, his perception remains clear. You have to dissuade them of that and say, if youre not part of the solution, youre part of the problem, Ridges noted.

As a teacher at Monroe College and a former educator at John Jay College, Ridges aims to bestow the same guidance and wisdom he received in his early years in law enforcement. He asks students what changes they want to affect and where they see themselves five years down the line.

His long road, Ridges has learned, can help others realize that seemingly-lofty goals are not out of reach.

He gives tremendous credit to his mother, who unfortunately died before he graduated law school, as being a catalyst for his current success. While she was not able to see the benefits of her support, Ridges said the steps he has taken since growing up in Brooklyn have manifested his mothers hopes and dreams.

This month, he was in the room with the president as he came to New York City to discuss fighting gun violence.

If you would have asked me 40 years ago if I thought that I was going to have the chance to be sitting in a room with the president of the United States, coming from Bedford-Stuyvesant, I never would have thought that was an option, said Ridges.

My message to young people that look like me during Black History Month is, if I can do it, you can do it, said Ridges. Dont dont limit yourself.

MORE FROM THE IMPACT & EXCELLENCE SERIES

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>> Inspired by fond memories of childhood in West Brighton, Frank Sullivan makes unity in the community

>> NYC artivist Jahtiek Long has a vision for a greater Staten Island

>> Trailblazing prosecutor reflects on his ascension to Staten Island leadership

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Impact & Excellence: Trailblazing prosecutor reflects on his ascension to Staten Island leadership - SILive.com