The family of the man killed by an NYPD sergeant assigned to the 52nd Precinct following a traffic stop in Norwood is slated to sue the Police Department arguing the shooting was unjustified. The daytime incident stunned residents in the relatively quiet neighborhood, who can’t recall ever remembering an incident like this happening in Norwood.

“They’re really seeking justice, and they’re seeking an independent investigation,” said Robert Vilensky, the attorney for the family of Allen Feliz, who was killed by a single bullet.

Feliz, a Yonkers resident and father of a five-year-old, was fatally shot after he was stopped by police officers for not wearing his seatbelt while driving on Bainbridge Avenue toward East 211th Street on Oct. 17 at around 3 p.m. He was pulled over by two officers—partners for the 52nd Precinct’s Neighborhood Coordination (NCO) program, which places officers in sectors as a means of improving police relations—at the corner of East 211th Street and Bainbridge Avenue near Woodlawn Cemetery.

Present was their sergeant, supervisor for the precinct’s NCO program. After using their NYPD-issued smartphones to run Feliz’s records, the officers learned the driver had three open warrants for minor infractions, giving officers reason to arrest him. But Feliz resisted, according to NYPD Chief of Police Terence Monahan at a news conference three hours following the shooting, adding that a struggle ensued. The sergeant had tased Feliz but it did not work, according to Monahan.

“During the struggle, the man shifted the car into drive, moving the car forward and backwards, with the sergeant still inside the vehicle. When the car was put in reverse, the officer on the driver’s side had to release his grip on the male and jump out of the way to avoid getting struck by the car. The driver’s door then quickly closed. This violent struggle between [Feliz] and the officers lasted approximately one and a half minutes before the shot was fired. At this time the sergeant fired one round from his service weapon striking the male in the chest. The officers then began to render aid,” said Monahan, flanked by 52nd Precinct Commanding Officer Thomas Alps, Chief of Patrol Rodney Harrison at the news conference three blocks from where the shooting occurred.

The incident was captured on video by several bystanders that mostly corroborates what Monahan said during the news conference. One of the officers is seen dragging Feliz out of the car. Another video taken by Bryant Lopez, a Norwood resident, shows a bloodied Feliz seen on the ground, his pants pulled down after he was dragged out of his car, as the sergeant presses down on his chest in hopes of resuscitating him.

Feliz was not armed. He was taken to St. Barnabas Hospital where he died. Monahan said police recovered what they considered to be a “substantial amount” of what appeared to be cocaine, heroin and Ecstasy. Monahan did not elaborate over the actual quantity of the drugs were found.

Though video capturing the shooting largely corroborates Monahan’s account, Vilensky said the shooting could have been entirely avoided.

“If you look at the video that’s out there, you will see the car stops after going in reverse. The police officer that’s on the left-hand side of the vehicle runs back to the driver’s side window. At that point the car is stopped and there is at least two to three seconds from the car being stopped until the shot is fired by the sergeant who is on the right side of the vehicle, actually in the vehicle at the time,” said Vilensky. “So if the theory from the Police Department is that this officer had to shoot in order to protect the life of the police officer who was outside, the police officer who was outside was already back to the driver’s side window, and in no apparent harm, and the car was at a standstill. So why did that officer shoot in those conditions? To us it seems to be [a] poor shooting, an unjustifiable shooting.”

Vilensky—who is filing motions to preserve the evidence, which includes the bullet casing, witness statements, and body cameras—also wants the Bronx District Attorney or New York State Attorney General to launch an independent investigation.

Current state laws give officers discretion to use their service weapon to fire at a suspect when a vehicle poses “an imminent threat of deadly physical force,” as referenced in the NYPD’s annual force report. Vilenksy, however, argued the vehicle was not used as a weapon. “There’s no police officer in front of the car; there’s no police officer in the back of a car. So where is it [used] as a weapon?” said Vilensky.

The chaotic scene was the talk of Norwood, where crowds had formed along the yellow tape a block and a half from where the shooting occurred. Shortly after the shooting, the precinct’s Community Affairs Unit alerted stakeholders to the shooting, offering preliminary information.

Several blocks from Bainbridge Avenue, Lopez, the resident who took the video, was hanging out with his friend Jelani F. on Tryon Avenue as they discussed the shooting, believing that it had been a knee-jerk reaction.

“That was senseless,” said Jelani. “Being put in that position where guns are drawn and people pressing you, ‘get out the car, get out the car, get out the car.’”

Major crime within the Five-Two has risen this year compared to the same time last year at 10 percent, with murder, rape, robbery, felony assault, and grand larcenies up.

This had been the third police-involved shooting in the Bronx in less than a month. On Sept. 29, Det. Brian Mulkeen was killed in a case of friendly fire as they attempted to arrest a suspect at Edenwald Houses. The latest happened on Oct. 16, when police shot a suspect at the 225th Street Station in Wakefield.

Meantime, the sergeant remains on active duty as the NYPD’s Force Investigation Division investigates.

Editor’s Note: The online article is updated to reflect that the sergeant had tased Feliz before firing his service weapon. A correction will be published in the Nov. 

admin

Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.