Over the last five years, my family has fought to make sure that Lt. Jonathan Rivera, the NYPD officer who killed my brother, Allan Feliz, is fired from the department. In 2019, the NYPD unjustly stopped Allan in his car. After officers beat and tased him, Rivera climbed into the passenger seat and shot my brother in the chest at close range. Officers then yanked my brother from the car, exposing his genitals in the process. Instead of covering Allan, they cuffed him and left him to bleed out in the street.
I’ve had to recount these facts again and again, hoping that those in power would listen and fire Rivera. Instead, my family and I have had to fight through years of delays and obstruction by the NYPD and the administration.
A disciplinary hearing for Rivera is finally scheduled to begin on Nov. 12. This is a glimmer of hope, but for the last three years, I have watched the mayor and his cronies in the NYPD protect their own interests rather than New Yorkers’ by shielding abusive officers like Rivera. Now, each day, my family reads new stories about the corruption scandals the mayor and NYPD are embroiled in, and we worry what it all means for Allan’s case.
My family has no faith that Adams, nor the new police commissioner, will do the right thing and fire Rivera for the murder of my brother — unless New Yorkers force them to prioritize it. Adams has never prioritized police accountability and, right now, his biggest concern is saving himself. The interim NYPD commissioner is dealing with his own federal investigation and a police department with a long history of protecting its own.
I want New Yorkers to understand that the corruption of the mayor and the NYPD does not only involve bribery and soliciting illegal donations — it includes protecting the department and its officers, no matter the harm they do. The city’s independent NYPD oversight board substantiated fireable charges against the officers who killed Kawaski Trawick, just like it did in Allan’s case, but the mayor and his NYPD let those officers walk.
NYPD misconduct complaints are at an 11-year high, yet recent reporting from ProPublica shows that, under Adams, the NYPD has been burying hundreds of substantiated misconduct cases, sometimes refusing to even look at the facts of a case before dismissing it.
The mayor’s praise of the police after officers shot four people for a $2.90 fare evasion on the subway makes it perfectly clear: His priority is to protect himself and the NYPD, not New Yorkers. We need the truth about this corruption to come out, just as much as we need the truth about the actions for which Adams was indicted.
The discipline case against Rivera should be open and shut. Not only are the facts about my brother’s murder egregious, but Rivera has a significant misconduct history of at least 41 allegations. The only fair decision for the mayor and commissioner to make is to fire Rivera without access to his pension or a good-guy letter that would let him carry a gun. Anything else will only be a continuation of this administration’s corrupt pattern of letting officers who commit violence and misconduct walk without facing any consequences for their actions.
October 17 marked five years since the NYPD killed my brother, and we still miss him every single day. Allan’s life mattered. He should be here with us, raising his four-year-old son. Instead, his child is growing up without a father and my family and I are still fighting for some semblance of justice while our city’s government appears to be coming apart at the seams. All my family wants is for Rivera to be fired so he is no longer a danger to New Yorkers and we can begin to heal from this life-altering trauma.
Samy Feliz is the brother of Allan Feliz, who was killed by an NYPD officer in 2019.