At a Glance
Date Filed:
October 15, 2025
Current Status
The Article 78 petition was filed on October 15, 2025.
Our Team:
- Samah Mcgona Sisay
- Celine Zhu
Co-Counsel
Latino Justice, Beldock Levine Hoffman, Law Office of Gideon Oliver
Client(s)
Family of Allan Feliz
October 15, 2025
Case Description
In October 2019, NYPD then-Sergeant Jonathan Rivera shot and killed Allan Feliz during a traffic stop in the Bronx. NYPD officers stated they pulled Allan over for allegedly not wearing a seatbelt, but body worn camera footage showed officers acknowledging Allan wearing a seatbelt. During the stop, NYPD officers then illegally detained Allan, escalated the stop, and attacked him. Ultimately, Rivera shot Allan in the chest, killing him. After Allan's killing, Rivera was promoted to NYPD lieutenant.
Since Allan’s death, his family has been organizing alongside the Justice Committee to get justice for Allan’s death and have Lt. Rivera fired from the NYPD. After years of advocacy, the Civilian Complaint Review Board substantiated allegations that Lt. Rivera used excessive force. Earlier this year, the NYPD Deputy Commissioner for Trials, Rosemarie Maldonado, issued a finding after an NYPD trial that Lt. Rivera was not credible on the stand and recommended he be terminated. Yet on July 3, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch rejected her own Deputy Commissioner’s findings and refused to fire Lt. Rivera.
On October 16, 2025, marking the six-year anniversary of Allan's death, members of Allan's family—his mother, brother, sister, and partner, the mother of his child—and the Justice Committee brought an Article 78 petition challenging Commissioner Tisch's decision to decline to punish Lt. Rivera as an abuse of discretion, in violation of her duty under state law.
Allan’s senseless death demonstrates the continued racial profiling and police violence against Black and Latino New Yorkers by the NYPD. Commissioner Tisch’s decision not to fire Lt. Rivera is another example of the NYPD’s ongoing lack of internal or external discipline, or consequences, for officers who racially profile and kill Black and Latino people. This case continues upon our work in Floyd v. City of New York by demanding legal accountability for the NYPD’s lack of accountability for the racial violence its officers enacts on New Yorkers.