The family of 19-year-old Win Rozario and social justice activists are reacting Friday after New York State Attorney General Letitia James released body camera footage showing the deadly police shooting of the Queens teen.
The disturbing video shows Officers Salvatore Alongi and Matthew Cianfrocco arriving at the victim’s Ozone Park home on March 27 after Rozario apparently called them for help during a mental health crisis. The cops were met at the front door of the house by Rozario’s 17-year-old brother Ushto Rozario who took them to the second floor of the home.
The shocking video shows Win Rozario attempting to charge at the cops with a small pair of scissors as his mother, Notan Eva Costa, attempted to wrestle the tool out of his hands. The cops shot the boy with tasers while the distraught mother attempted to shield her son. The cops told his mother to get out of the way. “Let go of him and back up,” one of the officers could be heard yelling.
“Please do not shoot my mother,” Ushto Rozario could then be heard pleading.
“I am not going to but…” officer Cianfrocco could be heard replying.
Ushto, concerned for his mother’s safety, pulled her to the ground as Win Rozario appeared to march toward the officers when shots rang out, killing the boy.
In a joint statement released by the family, the Rozarios condemned the shooting, calling it outright murder and demanded that the responding officers be fired.
“It’s been over a month since we lost Win and our hearts are broken. We feel his absence every day. Reliving this is traumatic and painful. We wish it wasn’t necessary for the video to be public. The video that was released makes it clear that Win should be alive but the police came and murdered him in our kitchen without any care for him or us,” the statement read. “The police created a crisis and killed him in cold blood. The officers should be fired and prosecuted for murder as soon as possible.”
On the day of the shooting, NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell stood outside of the Rozario home hours after the incident and defended the cops.
“The mother, being a mother, came to aid her son. By doing so, she accidentally knocked the tasers out of his body,” Chief of Patrol John Chell said Wednesday. “At this point, the male picked up the scissors again, came at our officers. They had no choice but to defend themselves, discharging their firearms.”
Executive Director of the Justice Committee Loyda Colon disagrees. Throughout the course of the video the officers could be heard screaming at Notan Eva Costa to “get the f—k away.” This, Colon argues, only goes to drive home the point that Officers Alongi and Cianfrocco escalated the situation.
“The footage is horrifying – this was an execution,” Colon said. “From the start, the insulting language made clear these cops shouldn’t be interacting with anyone who might have or be perceived to have mental health complexities. Contrary to the NYPD’s lies that began soon after Win was killed, the video shows that the way these cops came in created a crisis situation that they unilaterally escalated multiple times. The cops made no attempt to de-escalate the crisis they created or engage with Win and his family other than to bark orders, tase and shoot. This was a cold-blooded murder.”
The attorney general’s office stated that the release of the footage is about transparency and that the investigation remains ongoing.
The NYPD, in response to the release of the body camera footage, said that it is rare for its officers to use force. The department said that it receives more than 9 million calls for help each year, with about 155,000 being emergency calls involving people suffering from mental health crisis. The NYPD said that these calls result in less than 1% of any use of force.
“The NYPD is fully cooperating with the state attorney general’s investigation into this tragic incident, and is committed to ensuring a full and thorough review. The NYPD Force Investigation Division is also conducting an investigation. The two police officers involved remain on modified assignment. An officer on modified assignment does not carry a shield or a firearm,” part of the NYPD’s statement read.
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