After working for more than 36 hours at one point, the officials said, he went home for some rest. When he woke up, he realized that his phone was not working properly, causing him to have missed some messages from the mayor.
Mr. de Blasio later summoned Chief Pichardo to City Hall to explain why he had not responded to the messages, the officials said. Chief Pichardo left the meeting feeling angry and insulted, according to the officials.
He became even more irritated over the weekend when the mayor contacted him repeatedly about a late-night block party in the Bronx, the officials said. Such calls would typically be directed to Commissioner Shea, they said.
“He’s sort of being treated like a chew toy, which he doesn’t appreciate,” one of the officials said. “The guy’s been working for 11 months straight.”
Chief Pichardo is the second top Latino official to quit the de Blasio administration in recent months amid the pandemic and out of frustration with the mayor. Dr. Oxiris Barbot resigned as health commissioner in August after Mr. de Blasio stripped her agency of a key virus-tracing program. Three other three-star chiefs, Lori Pollock, Theresa Shortell and Nilda Hofmann, have also decided to retire from the Police Department since the summer.
Chief Pichardo’s departure will also coincide with that of Mr. de Blasio’s top criminal justice adviser, Elizabeth Glazer, who is set to leave her job in the coming weeks, according to an official with knowledge of her plans. Ms. Glazer’s reasons for leaving were unclear.
Ms. Glazer, who declined to comment on her move, joined Mr. de Blasio’s administration shortly after he took office in 2014. She has served as an architect of the mayor’s criminal justice agenda, overseeing a historic reduction of the inmate population at the Rikers Island jail complex and dealing with the introduction of the state’s new bail law.
Alan Feuer, Emma G. Fitzsimmons and Edgar Sandoval contributed reporting.