After AG’s bodycam pledge, family of Queens teen shot by cops seeks footage
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Cambria Heights resident Matthew Felix was shot and killed by Nassau County cops who crossed into Queens on Feb. 25. Photo courtesy of the Felix family
By David Brand
New York Attorney General Letitia James’ recent pledge to speed the release of body-worn camera footage when unarmed civilians are killed by police is fueling the demand for other tapes in the case of a Black Cambria Heights teenager shot by cops in February.
The Nassau County officers who fired on 19-year-old Matthew Felix, a suspect in a Long Island car theft, weren’t wearing body cameras when they pulled him over.
Martin Seinfeld, the attorney representing Felix’s mother, said the attorney general’s office has stonewalled his attempts to obtain any videos from the scene or nearly any information related to the shooting. He questioned why James did not include police dashboard camera footage and surveillance footage in her announcement.
“It’s interesting they want to release body camera footage, when most police departments outside New York City don’t wear body cameras,” Seinfeld said.
The Attorney General’s Office acknowledged that the police who shot Felix were not wearing body cameras. An official told the Eagle that they are creating a detailed process for releasing all available footage related to police shootings, including dashboard camera video and private surveillance tape, but do not yet have a timeframe for when that might occur.
Seinfeld said he hopes they release the videos immediately because already seven months have passed since Felix was killed.
“Tish James’ office has been very polite but very quiet,” he said. “They haven’t released anything other than an autopsy report that the family could have gotten from the medical examiner.”
The state attorney general is tasked with investigating the deaths of people killed by police when there is a question of whether or not they were armed. Nassau County police told Newsday that Felix was unarmed. James’ office has not confirmed that.
The Long Island officers who killed Felix crossed into Queens, staked out his home and followed him when he drove away in a car that the family owned. They shot him during an attempt to pull him over, but the circumstances of his death remain a mystery to his family and attorney.
New York Attorney General Letitia James said her office would proactively release bodyworn camera footage in cases where unarmed civilians are killed by police. AP Photo/Kathy Willens
A day after Felix’s death, Nassau County cops released a brief surveillance video that shows Felix’s car veering off the road toward officers before smashing into a storefront near the corner of Linden Boulevard and 217th Street.
“Our officers were faced with the circumstances that resulted in the use of deadly physical force," said Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder at the time, though he declined to elaborate on those circumstances.
That clip, which shows at least two unmarked police vehicles on the scene, remains the only piece of footage that Seinfeld or Felix’s family have seen.
“I’m looking for any information at all because, one, I don’t even know what the police said happened,” Seinfeld said. “And two, it’s from video, preferably from multiple angles, from which you’ll be able to piece together what happened.”
Seinfeld said he does not know the names of the officers who shot Felix, the number of bullets fired or the names of witnesses identified by police or investigators. He said he has not been allowed to see Felix’s car or interview anyone involved with the shooting.
“It makes prosecuting a civil case very difficult,” Seinfeld said. “I don’t know how it could possibly take seven months.”
He noted that James and Gov. Andrew Cuomo criticized the amount of time it took to initiate the investigation into the police killing of George Floyd in Milwaukee, Wisconsin while another case continues to drag on with little transparency in their “own backyard.”
Seinfeld’s Freedom of Information Law requests have been denied, with the Nassau County police and the attorney general’s office each citing an “ongoing investigation.”
James’ decision to speed the release of body-worn camera footage came Sunday in the wake of the suffocation death of Daniel Prude at the hands of Rochester police, the latest high-profile police killing to touch off large-scale demonstrations in New York.
“Up until now, release of footage has been up to the discretion of local authorities, but this process has caused confusion, delays, and has hampered transparency in a system that should be as open as possible,” James said. “Starting immediately, the office of the attorney general will now be proactively releasing video footage to the public on our own.”
The Nassau County Police Department told the Eagle that it does not comment on active investigations.
