The household of 19-year-old Win Rozario, who was fatally shot by NYPD officers at his house in Queens final yr after his mother tried to protect him, filed a federal lawsuit Monday accusing the officers of botching the response and their colleagues of mistreating the household afterwards.
The courtroom papers cost officers Matthew Cianfrocco and Salvator Alongi with escalating the scenario quickly — opposite to straightforward protocol of coping with people who find themselves in psychological misery as Rozario was — even because the younger man’s mom, Notan Eva Costa, and youthful brother, Utsho Rozario, tried to calm issues down.
Rozario was shot and killed inside two minutes of the officers coming into the house in response to a 911 name of an individual appearing erratically — which turned out to be made by Win Rozario himself.
“Defendant Officers’ quick resort to force, repeated and loud shouting, and aggressive actions escalated and exacerbated the situation, making Mr. Rozario fear for his life,” the lawsuit filed by Beldock, Levine & Hoffman LLP reads.
The lawsuit asserts the police response is a part of a wider sample of the NYPD’s incapacity to soundly deal with circumstances of individuals in psychological misery and says 20 such incidents since 2015 have ended with police in New York Metropolis killing the one that was in want of assist.
Police Benevolent Affiliation President Patrick Hendry famous that the Rozario case highlights the troublesome scenario cops face once they reply to some emergency calls.
“These police officers were faced with an individual who was holding a weapon and endangering multiple people. As the body camera footage makes clear, they were trying to minimize the risks to everyone in that room and were forced to make split-second decisions based on those risks,” he mentioned. “They deserve a fair investigation based on facts and the law.”
Within the capturing on March 27, 2024, the lawsuit says the officers missed alternatives to de-escalate issues after the 19-year-old initially got here at them with a pair of scissors he pulled from a kitchen drawer.
At that time, officer Alongi tased Rozario, who fell to the ground. His mother grabbed the pair of scissors from him and stayed close to her son as he stood up.
The officers yelled at Costa to maneuver away from Win Rozario, and she or he responded, “Don’t shoot.”
When she moved away, nonetheless, Alongi tased him once more, body-worn digital camera footage of the incident reveals.
“Without issuing a warning or command, Defendant Alongi tased Mr. Rozario a second time,” the lawsuit says. “At that point, Mr. Rozario had not been carrying scissors, he had not been moving towards Defendants, and he had been standing on the opposite end of the kitchen from Defendants, who stood in the living room.”
Moments earlier than cops from the 102nd Precinct in Ozone Park, Queens, shot and killed Win Rozario on March 27, 2024, as his mom tried to guard him.
After being tased a second time, Rozario grabbed the scissors his mother had positioned on a chair and got here on the officers once more, the footage reveals. After Rozario reached the lounge, Cianfrocco shot him within the arm.
At that time Costa tried to seize the scissors out of her son’s hand, as Utsho tried to maneuver his mother out of hurt’s means — main the three of them to fall in a heap on the kitchen entrance.
Win Rozario was the primary to face, clutching the scissors. He backed away into the kitchen along with his mother and brother nonetheless on the ground between him and the cops, the footage reveals.
When he went to take a step ahead, Cianfrocco shot him. The lawsuit notes that Rozario stumbled again.
“In total, in the period that Mr. Rozario had been standing behind his mother and brother, already weakened from the first gunshot, Defendant Cianfrocco shot Mr. Rozario in the chest four times,” the lawsuit says. “Mr. Rozario did not move towards Defendant Cianfrocco after any of these shots. Still, Defendant Cianfrocco chose to continue firing shots.”
A spokesperson for the Metropolis Regulation Division declined to remark, saying the town would reply within the litigation.
Household Questioned in Aftermath
The Rozario household immigrated to New York from Bangladesh in 2014, when Win was 9, based on the lawsuit. It says he struggled with anxiousness and despair and was hospitalized briefly in 2022 and 2023, however that he was on an upward trajectory within the six months previous to the capturing.
After the fifth shot was fired, the officers pushed Costa out of the kitchen though she needed to be by her son’s facet, the submitting says.
It additionally says the officers handcuffed Rozario earlier than looking for to supply him medical care, and that they carried out chest compressions with out rescue breaths, and had been sluggish to examine his pulse.
In line with body-worn digital camera footage obtained by THE CITY that features the aftermath of the capturing, a slew of officers quickly arrived on scene. Two of them took over Win Rozario’s medical care till EMS staff arrived, and one other two led Costa and Utsho to the lounge sofa and instructed them to not enter the kitchen.
“Sit down. Sit down. Miss, don’t go in,” considered one of them advised Costa, the footage reveals. He later advised her: “Mom, sit down. Relax.”
Utsho, who alternated between sobbing and looking for to consolation his mother with a hug, requested the officers a number of instances if he might name his dad to let him know what occurred.
“I need you to sit,” considered one of them responded. “Sit!”
On the similar time, one of many officers requested Costa about Win Rozario’s psychological well being.
“He’s been suffering from mental illness for a long time?” he requested. “How many years?”
An officer later defined that they had been barring Costa and Utsho from the kitchen as a result of it contained proof of what occurred.
Three minutes after EMS staff arrived, considered one of them requested the officers if they might uncuff Rozario. A sergeant advised them they might.
Costa and Utsho Rozario had been later taken to a again bed room for about 10 minutes, after which an officer mentioned Utsho might use the officer’s telephone to name his dad.
When Rozario was faraway from the condo by the EMS staff, the officers advised his mom and brother they need to costume warmly and are available exterior. At that time an officer retrieved their telephones from the kitchen.
The lawsuit says the questioning continued on the precinct, the place Costa and Utsho had been interviewed individually, and that neither of them was notified about Rozario’s dying till after the questioning completed.
It notes they had been requested about “intimate details regarding Mr. Rozario’s mental health and whether he had a propensity for violence.”
The household was saved out of the condo for 3 days, and was barred from grabbing drugs or feeding their cat, the lawsuit says. They returned house to seek out Rozario’s blood on the kitchen flooring and cupboards, it says.
The physique digital camera footage obtained by THE CITY reveals Cianfrocco and Alongi being ushered out of the condo by a supervisor. They’d their cameras and weapons instantly confiscated and had been taken to a sidewalk additional away from the scene.
“I’m shaking, but…trying to catch my breath,” Alongi mentioned when somebody requested how he was doing.
He and Cianfrocco exchanged a good hug, the footage reveals. A sergeant approached and requested in the event that they had been OK, ushering them into an unmarked car.
“I don’t want everybody looking at you,” she mentioned. “Get in.”
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