Family of Queens teen killed by NYPD to sue city
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The family of 19-year-old Win Rozario, who was shot and killed by NYPD officers in March, announced their intent to sue the city on Tuesday. Eagle photo by Ryan Schwach
By Ryan Schwach
The family of Win Rozario, the 19-year-old shot and killed by police in his Queens home in March, announced their intent to sue the NYPD for wrongful death on Tuesday.
The announcement of the lawsuit also comes as the family said newly viewed body camera footage of the harrowing incident shows that one of the officers removed his body-camera as Rozario lay dying in his home.
Nearly three months after Rozario was shot by police after calling 911 himself amidst a mental episode, his family is seeking potentially $30 million in damages for what they claim was a wrongful death, caused by the reckless actions by the officers who responded to the distress call.
Rozario was shot multiple times by NYPD officers Salvatore Alongi and Matthew Cianfrocco, a scene witnessed by both his mother and brother.
“We filed the Notice of Claim on behalf of Win Rosario’s brother and mother, because they were witnesses, they saw it, they were put in harm's way and suffered trauma from witnessing it,” said Luna Droubi, the family’s attorney.
The two notices, one on behalf of his family’s estate and his mother Notan Eva Costa, and the other on behalf of his brother Uthso Rozario, were filed on Tuesday.
Having filed the two notices, attorneys for the family expect to file a lawsuit against the city at some point in the coming year.
Both notices shared with the Eagle say that the city is responsible for the officers’ “reckless disregard for the safety” of Rozario, his mother and brother.
While announcing a lawsuit against the NYPD for the March shooting of Win Rozario, his family also said that extended footage of the incident shows one of the officers put down his body-worn camera while aid was being administered to the 19-year-old. Screenshot via Attorney General’s Office
The documents further say that the officers exhibited “gross negligence” that led to the death of Rozario, and psychological harm to his family.
Rozario’s family, father Francis Rozario, Utsho and Notan Eva Costa, had statements read for them by advocates on Tuesday. They said they collectively have had a hard time dealing with the incident, which Utsho and Eva Costa saw unfold.
On March 27, officers Alongi and Cianfrocco approached the Rozarios’ Ozone Park home after they reportedly got a call from the teen himself seeking help amid a mental health episode.
After speaking briefly with Rozario’s 17-year-old brother, they went upstairs to the apartment, where Rozario stood with his mother. After seeing police, Rozario grabbed a pair of yellow scissors from a drawer and moved in the direction of the officers before being stopped by his mother.
Alongi almost immediately pulled out his Taser, while Cianfrocco pulled out his gun.
Alongi then fired his Taser, striking Rozario. Despite the discharge of the Taser, Eva Costa continued to hold onto her son.
“Let go of him, and back up,” the police shouted. “Let go of him, miss”
Utsho, who was standing to the left of the police, said, “Please don’t shoot my mother,” a phrase he repeated throughout the remainder of the incident.
Though at one point, his mother was able to take the scissors out of Rozario’s hands, the teen eventually grabbed them again and was almost immediately shot at least four times by the officers, the bullets flying over the heads of Eva Costa and Utsho.
Advocates and elected officials who joined the Rozario family said Rozario’s death was “completely avoidable,” and blasted Alongi and Cianfrocco for missing several opportunities to deescalate the situation.
In the hours following the shooting, the family has said they felt as though officers “treated [them] like criminals,” and expressed little sympathy for the incident.
Utsho said in May that both he and Eva Costa were immediately taken to the 102nd Precinct following the shooting. Utsho, who was wearing shorts and a sweatshirt, said that he wasn’t allowed to change despite the chilly weather.
Utsho also said they were not able to retrieve his parents’ medication or their family cat until they got back into their home 48 hours later, where Queens-based advocacy group Desis Rising Up & Moving helped them clean up the blood left at the scene.
“They didn't seem worried about us at all,” he said in front of City Hall at a May rally.
On Tuesday, the family and advocates who joined them also revealed that Cianfrocco removed his body-worn camera and moved it out of view as efforts were allegedly made to revive Rozario, who lay on his kitchen floor.
“To us, it seems like the NYPD knows they did something wrong, like there's no reason for you to mess with the body camera and take it off, put it on the ground, and then, as you are leaving, you pick it back up,” said Simran Thind, an organizer for DRUM who has been working with the family. “It's not a situation where the police just dropped it, it is a situation where one of the officers took it off of his chest and placed it down, which should not have happened.”
According to the NYPD’s own policy on body-worn cameras, “officers may not turn off the camera if a suspected perpetrator is still present on the scene.”
The NYPD does not comment on active investigations, and told the Eagle on Wednesday that the department would review a potential lawsuit if and when they are served.
The lawsuit however, is not the priority for the family, Thind said.
“I think this is sort of a byproduct,” she told the Eagle. “The family's primary demands are getting the cops fired and suspended, and then the attorney general indicting and convicting the officers and also getting cops out of mental health responses.”
Mayor Eric Adams, on several occasions, said that he would be waiting for the attorney general’s investigation to conclude before taking any disciplinary actions against the officers.
"As Mayor Adams has said, our hearts are broken, and we share the profound pain felt by the Rozario family after the death of Win,” a City Hall Spokesperson said on Wednesday. “The mayor has also made it clear that the Attorney General’s Office has New York City’s full cooperation in their investigation, and out of respect for the process, we will avoid commenting any further.”
The spokesperson also said City Hall would review any lawsuit that should come the city’s way in regards to the March incident.
In the meantime, as the family awaits the investigation process, they say they want the public to put more pressure on the administration ahead of what would have been Win’s 20th birthday on July 4.
“The family's big thing [they] want for Win’s birthday is for people to call the mayor and put that pressure on him, because we know the mayor, by himself, how he has postured already, is not going to [fire the officers] out of the goodness of his heart,” said Thind. “The family wants people in the community and other New Yorkers to step up.”
