Slay by cop a $25M case
Kin to sue in shoot of fake-gun guy
THE FAMILY OF a bipolar Brooklyn man shot dead by police in April plans to sue the city and the NYPD for $25 million, according to a notice of claim filed Thursday.
In the three-page document — which is filed before a lawsuit — attorneys Robinson Iglesias and Michael Hueston claim the NYPD officers knew Saheed Vassell “did not pose a threat to the life, health and safety of the police officers and third persons, and failed to take proper steps to (defuse) a situation involving an emotionally disturbed person.”
Vassell, 34, was off his psych meds when four police officers shot him April 4 in Crown Heights. The responding officers shot Vassell (photo inset) nine times. He later died at Kings County Hospital.
“We are very sad . . . we’re seeking justice,” Vassell’s father Eric Vassell told the Daily News Thursday. “We hope that everything that can be done will be done on my son’s behalf.”
Relatives and local residents questioned why the mentally ill man, carrying what looked like a metal pipe, was shot down so quickly. But police said the shiny metal object he was seen in several videos pointing at people appeared to be a handgun.
“The police shot an unarmed mentally ill man because the NYPD doesn’t adequately train its police officers on how to deal with the emotionally disturbed,” Iglesias said.
The unhinged man was seen taking a shooting stance and pointing a shiny metal object at police — which was later identified as a piece of a soldering torch — in a confrontation that lasted less than 10 seconds, authorities said
Cops said they were responding to a number of worried 911 callers who saw Vassell clutching the piece of metal and confronting random pedestrians as if he had a gun. All the callers said the man, later identified as Vassell, was armed with a gun.
“There’s a guy walking around the street,” one 911 caller said, according to a transcript shared by the NYPD. “He looks like he’s crazy but he’s pointing something at people that looks like a gun and he’s popping it as if like if he’s pulling the trigger.”
Whatever money relatives recover from the city will go to Vassell’s 15-yearold son Tyshawn, the papers claim.
Relatives are also demanding the NYPD identify the four officers involved in the shooting.
“The city of New York has so far refused to identify (them),” the notice of claim states.
Eric Vassell wonders why, if the NYPD was so quick to put put pictures and video of his son, why they haven’t put out pics of the officers who killed him.
“I can’t say (the NYPD) is hiding something, I just want to know why they won’t release their names,” he said. “They almost immediately shared the pictures and the records of my son. We want to see pics of the cops and their records.”
NYPD Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea said in April that the department would release the names “at some point,” but said there was no firm date set.
The NYPD declined to comment on the notice of claim. An email to the city Law Department was not immediately returned.