A state judge heard arguments in Manhattan Supreme Court on Thursday in a case that could set a precedent on whether people outside the NYPD have legal
The family of a man killed by an NYPD officier in the Bronx speaks against Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch’s decision not to fire him and argues they should be able to sue over it.
Allan Feliz, a man who was shot and killed by NYPD Lt. Jonathan Rivera’s 2025 decision to ignore a ruling in a disciplinary hearing recommending Rivera be fired for using excessive force and assaulting Feliz was incorrect, and order Rivera fired.
“ is creating a standing standard in this case that essentially would mean police commissioner decisions cannot be reviewed outside of the NYPD,” said Samah Sisay, an attorney for Feliz’s family. “No third party would be able to seek review of a decision, and that’s just not the law.
” While city attorney Robyn Rothman argued that Feliz’s family’s suit should be dismissed because the general public should not be able to challenge the commissioner’s disciplinary decisions and the family’s alleged harm came from Feliz’s death, not from Tisch’s decision not to fire Rivera, Sissay said Feliz’s family is specifically harmed by the commissioner’s choice to keep Rivera on the force, making them able to challenge the decision. Allan Feliz’s partner and mother of his child, fell into deep depression and wasn’t able to focus on work or eat properly after Tisch’s decision, and lives in fear of Rivera hurting them with his power as an active member of the NYPD, Sissay said.
“It is a bit strange that says loved ones whose family member was killed by an individual do not have any vested interest in seeing that individual disciplined by the department,” Sisay told the judge. “ is creating its own standing principles to insulate the police commissioner from judicial review.
” For over half a decade, the loved ones of 31-year-old Allan Feliz have been calling for the removal of Sergeant Jonathan Rivera, who, since the deadly shooting, has not only kept his job but has been promoted to lieutenant in the years since. At the heart of the case is Sissay’s argument that Tisch’s decision to ignore her deputy commissioner’s decision that she fire Rivera after he was found guilty of excessive force and assault was arbitrary and capricious.
Sissay says Tisch ignored evidence and testimony at Rivera’s 2025 disciplinary trial – in which the cop was determined to be lying about the situation surrounding his decision to shoot Feliz – and was entirely based on the New York Attorney General Letitia James’ five-year-old report of Feliz’s death. That’s notable, she said, because Rivera had been found to be credible at the time of that report, which was before the disciplinary trial took place.
“Rivera made self-serving statements fabricated to minimize his culpability. In plain language … Rivera was lying about his justification for killing Feliz,” Sissay said of what NYPD Deputy Commissioner Rosemarie Maldonado, who presided over the 2025 disciplinary trial, found.
“Tisch was not present at the trial and does not address these findings. ” Rothman told the judge that Tisch’s decision was “neither arbitrary nor capricious because all agency rules were followed,” emphasizing that the commissioner has “final say in departmental discipline,” which she was within her right to use to overrule Maldonado’s recommendation that Rivera be fired.
“This is not a case where the agency disregarded its policy,” Rothman said. “Disagreement with a decision isn’t grounds for suit. ” State Supreme Court Judge Verna Saunders said she understood the case was “a very serious matter” that had moved both Feliz’s family and the public.
The question she’d answer with her decision was very important, she said, and wasn’t something she took lightly.said they hope Saunders sees the importance of agreeing with their argument outside the courthouse on Thursday. Aquino said she was scared Rivera might hurt someone else while on the force, or specifically target her.
“I don’t want to keep my son in this city where his father was killed and where his father has been denied justice,” Aquino said. “I don’t want us to live in a place where police get away with killing. Half my heart is missing because of the commissioner’s unjust decision, while the other half is strong with anger against Jessica Tisch.
” His family said they’re also working at another avenue to get Rivera off the force: asking Mayor Zohran Mamdani to push Tisch to fire the officer on the basis of another, separate substantiated misconduct complaint currently pending against him. Mamdani, they said, stood with them on the campaign trail in supporting Rivera’s firing, and they want him to follow through on that support now that he’s in office.
“No mother should have to explain to a child why their father is gone,” Aquino said, referring to their child, Eli. “As he gets older, I tell him he looks so much like his father. But when I tell him this, he says, ‘Don’t say that. The police are going to come and kill me like they killed my dad.
’” “I want to tell Eli not to worry,” she continued.
“But how can I do that when, right now, Lieutenant Rivera is patrolling our streets? ” A City Hall spokesperson did not return a request for comment on questions regarding whether Mamdani would push Tisch to remove Rivera from the force. Isabella Gallo covers courts and law for amNewYork Law.
She breaks down legal developments, court decisions, cases, lawsuits and the work of attorneys and judges to make the law more accessible to the public and provide a reliable resource to lawyers looking to understand how recent rulings could impact their practice. Two Bronx shootings in one hour leave pair of men dead as borough continues to be rocked by gun violence in 2026Photoville celebrates 15 years with citywide festival across Brooklyn and NYC
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