The following article is a two-part feature story on the Black Lives Matter protests.

Part I

 

The following stories are all too familiar in the Bronx.

 

On a summer afternoon in July 2016, a man saw a tense situation unfolding between NYPD officers and three people at Morris Houses in Claremont Village. One woman was cuffed, and the arguing escalated. The man thought he could help diffuse the situation, but in an instant, he was thrown against a gate by an officer who later defended his action by saying he felt the sergeant at the scene needed to be protected.

 

The peacemaker that day was Black, and a State lawmaker, Assemblyman Michael Blake. When a police captain recognized Blake as an elected official, the officer backed off and apologized.

 

Not all interactions between law enforcement and people of color end in death, or in broken bones but the success of the Black Lives Matter movement has been in spotlighting the scars left on society from the excessive police force that sometimes characterizes such interactions.

 

Since the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25, protesters have flooded the streets of large cities and small towns in this country and in others to bring attention to brutal police tactics that have long traumatized communities of color. Residents of the Bronx have known the pain caused by these tactics for decades.

 

In a borough where 56.4 percent of the population is Latinx and 28.9 percent is African American, interactions between the NYPD and the local communities can be fraught with suspicion and fear. This is despite the fact that, while a racial breakdown of the NYPD per borough is unavailable, according to a 2019 crime enforcement report, the majority of the New York Police Department, 52.6 percent, is made up of by Black, Hispanic and Asian uniformed officers.

 

Last October in Norwood, as reported, Allan Feliz, 31, a resident of Yonkers, was pulled over by Police Officer Edward Barrett, Sgt. Jonathan Rivera and Officer Michelle Almanzar because they believed he was not wearing a seatbelt. NYPD bodycam footage reveals initial, friendly banter between Feliz and the officers from the 52nd precinct. It transpired that Feliz was in fact wearing a belt.

 

The situation quickly escalates when Feliz gets back into his car, and he is tased repeatedly by Sgt. Jonathan Rivera from the passenger side of the vehicle. Rivera is heard saying, “Yo bro! I’m gonna [expletive] shoot you!”

 

According to NYPD Chief of Police, Terence Monahan, the officers involved felt their lives were in danger. “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,” Monahan said, at a press briefing following the fatal shooting. Feliz later died at St. Barnabas Hospital.

 

New York State allows law enforcement officers to use their service weapon if they believe a vehicle poses “an imminent threat of deadly physical force”. A check of Feliz’s license showed he had, at least, three outstanding arrest warrants.

 

 

The officers involved in the Feliz shooting said they felt an imminent threat to their lives, with Feliz back inside his car. On the other hand, Bronx residents wonder how an unarmed person dies in police custody from a traffic violation.

 

Feliz’s brother, Samy, still asks why his brother had to die following a traffic stop. “My brother and me were aware that racial profiling existed but we had respect for the police, not fear,” Samy replied in an interview with Norwood News.

 

Feliz had served time in federal prison for a burglary conviction, but his brother said that should not have any bearing on how police interact with community members. “My brother paid his debt to society. We’re asking them [the police] to protect us, not beat us and brutalize and kill us.”

 

On June 10, the family filed a lawsuit against the City of New York and the police officers involved for $100 million in compensatory damages and $250 million in punitive damages. They are claiming false arrest, illegal search and seizure, use of excessive force during the arrest process, and assault. The family further accuses the police officers involved in the shooting of engaging “in the practice of racial profiling” since “at least, 2010.” Their case is part of a class action suit against the NYPD by various Bronx residents.

 

Feliz’s family hired Robert Vilensky to represent them. “[I remember] there was a camaraderie between the public and police in my day,” Vilensky said. “I’m 64-years-old and grew up in the City of New York, [but now] all the interactions between police and Black and Latino communities seem to be bad.”

 

Rather than only seeing the downside of successive lawsuits against the police, Vilensky said he believes there is an opportunity for law enforcement to listen to what communities of color are expressing with these various legal actions. “If they [law enforcement] had a better relationship with the community it would benefit them. It would make their work safer,” he said.

 

* Editor’s Note: Part II of this two-part feature story will be posted when it appears in the next version of our print edition which will be published on Jul. 16.