The family of Win Rozario, the Queens teen who was shot and killed by police who responded to his mental health crisis last year, sued the city on Monday.
Beldock, Levine & Hoffman LLP filed the litigation on behalf of Rozario’s mother, Notan Eva Costa, and his brother Utsho Rozario, who were both present on March 27, 2024, when two officers assigned to the 102nd Precinct fatally gunned him down.
Cops say officers Salvatore Alongi and Matthew Cianfrocco responded to the Rozarios’ Ozone Park home after Win Rozario, 19, dialed 911 for help while suffering a mental health crisis. However, within minutes after arriving, the officers had discharged tasers and fatally shot the boy after they say he charged at them with a pair of scissors despite his mother’s anguished pleas.
Rozario’s distraught mother and brother say they were then prevented from accompanying him to the hospital and were treated like criminals by police.
“It’s been over a year since Matthew Cianfrocco and Salvatore Alongi murdered Win, and nothing has happened – they still haven’t been fired, arrested or prosecuted,” the Rozario family said in a statement released by their attorneys. “Cianfrocco and Alongi created a crisis and escalated at every turn, recklessly gunning Win down in our home in less than two minutes – and almost killing two of us too. … We’re suing the city, Cianfrocco, Alongi and the other police whose names we still don’t know who murdered Win, forced us to be interrogated at the precinct when we should have been allowed to go in the ambulance with Win, and who refused to let us go back to our home for more than two days.”
Rozario’s death sparked several protests throughout Queens, and the NYPD has faced harsh criticism for not yet holding the officers involved accountable.
The lawsuit itself encompasses 16 counts against the officers and the city, including excessive force and unreasonable seizure, violations of substantive due process, and other violations of constitutional, civil and human rights. The family is also renewing their call to fire both cops involved.
“The NYPD must immediately fire Officers Salvatore Alongi and Matthew Cianfrocco. They shot and killed Win and nearly shot Notan Eva Costa and Utsho Rozario, and they are still working, it is a disgrace,” attorney David B. Rankin of Beldock Levine & Hoffman, LLP said. “The officers are being paid nearly 200k a year by the people of New York. This has to stop. In no other job can you fail so spectacularly that someone is dead, you’re under investigation, and you’ve been sued yet you still cash a handsome paycheck. It must end, they must be fired.”
Reached for comment, an NYPD spokesperson told amNewYork, “We will review the lawsuit if and when are served. The investigation remains ongoing by the Force Investigation Division.”
