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NEW YORK, NY May 11, 2008 —A city police officer has been disciplined after he and a colleague stopped and questioned a black motorist who turned out to be one of the NYPD's highest ranking commanders. WNYC's Bob Hennelly reports.

REPORTER: The two white plainclothes officers confronted three-star NYPD Deputy Chief Douglas Zeigler in Corona Queens earlier this month. The pair came upon the NYPD's third-highest-ranking officer while he was off-duty and parked.

Though Zeigler told the pair who he was, according to police, at least one of the white officers persisted in trying to get inside the black officer's dDepartment-issued SUV. That white officer has been departmentally charged with showing discourtesy to a superior officer. He also had to turn in his gun and badge and has been relieved of any enforcement duties.

A department spokesman would'nt say what role, if any, race played in the officers' actions, or what actually sparked the officers' interest in Zeigler. An investigation continues into the incident.

For WNYC, I'm Bob Hennelly.