Family of Queens teenager shot by police demands $30 million in damages from city

The family of Win Rozario, a Queens teenager who suffered a mental health crisis and was shot and killed by police in March, has filed legal action against the city and the NYPD, demanding $30 million in damages from the city for the March 27 incident.

“The city must pay for what it did to this family,” said attorney Luna Droubi during a press conference.

Rozario was killed after officers responded to a 911 call he made, police said. Officers entered the family’s home, deployed a Taser and shot the 19-year-old as his mother and brother begged them to stop.

The family’s attorney stated in a notice of intent to sue the city that the two officers acted “recklessly and recklessly” during the incident, leading to Rozario’s death and putting his mother and brother in danger.

“We have filed a lawsuit for damages not only on behalf of Win Rozario’s heirs and his mother and brother, who witnessed his murder, but also because we treated them like criminals and put them at unjustified risk,” said Droubi, the family’s lawyer.

Mother Notan Eva Costa, father Francis Rozario and brother Utsho Rozario appeared at the news conference Tuesday afternoon but did not speak. Rozario’s mother wiped her eyes as a family representative spoke about her son’s 20th birthday on July 4.

The state Attorney General’s office is investigating Rozario’s death, and Alexis Richards, a spokesman for the Attorney General’s office, said the “investigation is still ongoing.”” In May, the Attorney General’s office released bodycam video of the confrontation.

“As Mayor Adams has said, our hearts are broken and we share the deep pain the Rozario family feels following Win’s death,” a spokesperson for Adams said in a statement. “The Mayor also made clear that the Attorney General’s Office has the full cooperation of the City of New York in its investigation and that we will avoid further comment out of respect for the process. We will review the lawsuit if and when it is filed.”

The two officers involved, Matthew Cianfrocco and Salvatore Alongi, encountered Rozario’s 17-year-old brother, who stated that his brother was having a mental seizure, according to bodycam footage released in May.

Officers entered the home and used a taser on Rozario while his mother screamed and held her son while his brother begged her not to shoot. Rozario grabbed a pair of scissors and walked toward the officers while his family tried to push him away from the police officers. The confrontation ended with officers firing several shots, killing the young man just minutes after entering the apartment.

The family said at their meeting with the Attorney General’s Office on Tuesday that they had new bodycam footage, but it had not been made public, a family representative said.

The footage showed officers pushing the victim’s mother away and paramedics tending to Rozario immediately after the shooting, said Loyda Colon, executive director of the Justice Committee, a criminal justice reform organization.

“It’s really hard to watch this video today because it feels really traumatizing,” Utsho Rozario said in a statement read to reporters. “We met with the CCRB and the Attorney General’s office and read the Mayor’s statements. And what New Yorkers need to understand is that Win should be alive. And the NYPD’s treatment of me and my mother after his murder is unacceptable.”

The family has struggled in the months since the incident. They tried to move out of their apartment in Ozone Park, where the shooting occurred, but were unable to find affordable housing.

“They are still living in the apartment where they witnessed their son and brother being killed and where they were also traumatized,” Colon said. “It was incredibly difficult.”

Mayor Eric Adams had previously stated that he would refrain from disciplinary action against Matthew Cianfrocco and Salvatore Alongi, the two NYPD officers who shot Rozario, until the Attorney General’s office had completed its investigation into the shooting.