Police reform advocates are ready restlessly as NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch mulls over her first massive check on the difficulty of officer accountability.
In February, an NYPD disciplinary trial discovered Lt. Jonathan Rivera responsible of first-degree assault for the killing of Allan Feliz in 2019, an offense that ought to result in termination primarily based on the division’s rulebook. Like with all police misconduct instances, the ultimate name goes to the NYPD commissioner.
Whereas there isn’t a official deadline for Tisch to make her choice, Feliz’s household referred to as for a choice by March 31. They haven’t obtained a response. So a day later —this previous Tuesday on April 1— 50 organizations signed a letter calling for Tisch to fireside Rivera.
“The deadline of the thirty first was given merely to set an expectation for police commissioner Tisch to know that this isn’t one thing that we’re simply going to take a seat again and permit it to simply hold accruing increasingly more time,” stated Samy Feliz, Allan Feliz’s brother. “It has been already 5 years and this officer has nonetheless been patrolling the streets of New York, which isn’t offering any New Yorker any sense of security nor accountability in the direction of the NYPD.”
Rivera, on the time an NYPD sergeant, pulled over the unarmed Feliz with two different officers over an alleged seatbelt violation. Regardless of the doubtful cease which the letter stated “reek[ed] of racial profiling” — notably since Feliz was sporting a seatbelt when pulled over — police ran his license and located excellent warrants for failing to pay fines over minor offenses like spitting and littering. The encounter escalated when Feliz reached for the gearshift to allegedly drive away, resulting in Rivera initially tasing, after which, fatally taking pictures Feliz within the chest.
Whereas the State Legal professional Basic opted to not carry felony fees, the workplace discovered “severe considerations concerning the NYPD’s dealing with of the incident.” The Civilian Criticism Evaluation Board, the unbiased metropolis company for police oversight, investigated and substantiated misconduct allegations towards Rivera over the taking pictures, which led to the NYPD trial final November. Deputy Commissioner of Trials Rosemarie Maldonado, who ostensibly serves because the “decide” for NYPD trials, rejected Rivera’s declare justifying the killing resulting from security considerations of his fellow officers.
Over the past 5 years, my household has fought to guarantee that Lt. Jonathan Rivera, the NYPD officer who killed my brother, Allan Feliz, is fired from the division.
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“The CCRB is happy with Trial Commissioner Maldonado’s advice of termination of Lt. Rivera and trusts that Commissioner Tisch will uphold this choice,” stated CCRB interim chair Dr. Mohammad Khalid. “The CCRB is hopeful that this consequence will present the household of Allan Feliz with a way of justice and closure.”
Maldonado’s ruling makes Rivera the primary and solely different officer dealing with termination after an NYPD trial stemming from a CCRB prosecution since Daniel Pantaleo over the high-profile killing of Eric Garner. Then-commissioner James P. O’Neill greenlit Pantaleo’s firing roughly two weeks after the decision.
Samy Feliz referred to as the coalescence of fifty organizations a “blessing.” Andrew Case, the supervising lawyer for LatinoJustice PRLDEF, says his civil rights group has stood with the household for years.
“We’re there for assist to lend some credence to the concept that what you see with your individual eyes is, in truth, true,” stated Case. “You are able to do authorized dances right here and there about varied issues however you may’t do authorized dances when this man climbed right into a automobile and killed anyone.”
Greater than 30 elected officers additionally again the Feliz household’s name for Rivera’s termination, together with mayoral candidates Jessica Ramos and Zohran Mamdani.
“We’re instructed the police are all the time searching for to enhance group relations,” stated Ramos on March 6. “Nicely that is the place it issues most. That is the place we see that nobody is above the regulation. Not any New Yorker, not even a police officer.”
“That is probably the most fundamental type of justice,” added Mamdani. “{That a} police officer, that has been discovered by a decide to have violated the NYPD’s insurance policies by murdering a New Yorker throughout a visitors cease, lose their job.”
Whether or not or not Tisch terminates Rivera will set the tone for a way she approaches police accountability in her tenure. Mayor Eric Adams appointed her final November following the exit of her predecessor Edward Caban, who reportedly buried quite a few disciplinary instances stemming from substantiated CCRB investigations.
Tisch usual herself as a reformer over her first few months as commissioner by tackling extreme time beyond regulation and shaking up management. She notably relieved the earlier Chief of Inner Affairs of responsibility in December and pushed out Jeffrey Maddrey, a outstanding police chief whose substantiated CCRB case was dismissed by Caban.
The choice may additionally bolster public belief within the CCRB, the primary channel for victims of police misconduct to pursue accountability. Nevertheless, the company lacks the direct energy to self-discipline officers. As an alternative, the CCRB depends on the police to police the police with Maldonado, an NYPD official, overseeing the interior trials and the commissioner making the ultimate name.
“It’s an indication of the tenacity and the arrogance of the CCRB, admittedly working with a restricted authority,” stated Case, who beforehand labored for the company. “They’ll’t truly drive this to occur, however they did their position in addition to it may be carried out. And it’s an indication that there ought to be religion within the CCRB. And if the commissioner needs to think about the CCRB and needs individuals to consider within the CCRB course of, then she ought to act on the Maldonado advice and fireplace Lt. Rivera.”
These all in favour of studying extra can observe the difficulty at justicecommittee.org/allan-feliz
Tandy Lau is a Report for America corps member who writes about public security for the Amsterdam Information. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps hold him writing tales like this one; please take into account making a tax-deductible present of any quantity right this moment by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1.
