The NY state Attorney General’s office has declined to pursue criminal charges against the two NYPD officers who shot and killed 19-year-old Win Rozario during a fast-moving encounter caught on police body camera video in his Queens apartment in March 2024, the Daily News has learned.
State AG Letitia James’ Office of Special Investigation concluded after a lengthy probe that a prosecutor would not be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the actions of Officers Matthew Cianfrocco and Salvatore Alongi were unjustified.
New York state law on justification holds that a police officer can use deadly force when they reasonably believe their life or the lives of others is under dire threat. In the critical moments, James’ office found, Rozario advanced three times toward Cianfrocco and Alongi brandishing a pair of scissors, which can be considered a deadly weapon.
“In this case, the officers fired gunshots at Mr. Rozario after he had advanced toward them and did not comply with repeated commands to drop the scissors,” the office concluded. “Therefore, the reasonableness of the officers’ fear that Mr. Rozario would come at them again with the scissors cannot be disproved beyond a reasonable doubt.”
The case has been the subject of broad outcry from Rozario’s family, advocates and James’ decision sparked additional controversy. The two officers are facing NYPD disciplinary charges alleging they used excessive force filed by the Civilian Complaint Review Board on a separate legal track and the family has filed a lawsuit.
The Rozario family was informed of the decision late Wednesday and issued a statement that blasted James within minutes of the report becoming public Thursday afternoon.
“State Attorney General Letitia James’ cowardly decision not to indict NYPD Officers Matthew Cianfrocco and Salvatore Alongi for murdering our beloved son and brother, Win Rozario, feels like we’re watching Win get murdered all over again,” said Rozario’s mother Notan Eva Costa, his father Francis Rozario and his brother Utsho Rozario.
“First, AG James keeps us in the dark, refusing to provide our family with an update for at least a year and a half. Then AG James has her staff tell us her decision and hand us a report of their investigation that is inconsistent with what we witnessed and the body worn camera footage and is biased toward the cops.”
Added Simran Thind, Organizer with the community group Desis Rising Up and Moving, said “the implication that the AG’s office found nothing prosecutable in the actions of two NYPD officers who shot Win Rozario five times is outrageous.”
PBA President Patrick Hendry applauded the decision.
“We are grateful that the attorney general recognized the same reality as the CCRB investigators who found these police officers’ actions to be within guidelines,” Hendry said. “These police officers were placed in an incredibly difficult situation and forced to make split second decisions based on the risks to everyone at that scene. The NYPD’s review of this case must continue to follow the facts and the law.”
On March 27, 2024, Rozario, in the midst of a psychiatric episode at his Ozone Park apartment, called 911 on himself. Referring to himself as his son, he said: “I think my son is on drugs and is acting mad erratic,” said the AG’s report obtained Wednesday by The News.
The two officers arrived, spoke with his brother then entered the apartment. They remembered Rozario from a prior response when the young man had fallen ill after drinking vanilla extract for the alcohol content, the report said.
The entire ensuing encounter lasted just 90 seconds.
The AG’s report states the brother told the officers Rozario was having an “episode.” They then spoke briefly with Rozario’s mother.
“What kind of episode? Is he a bipolar, schizo?” Alongi asked, according to the report.
“Basically, he’s just going cra – like, he don’t even know what he’s doing?” the brother replied.
At 1:53 p.m., Rozario took out a pair of scissors from a kitchen drawer and moved toward the officers as his mother tried to hold him back.
The cops backed into the living room. Alongi fired his Taser while Rozario’s mother pushed her son to the floor and took the scissors from him.
The officers told her to move out of the way. She put the scissors down on a chair in the kitchen. “Don’t shoot,” she said.
Alongi fired his Taser again at Rozario.
Rozario pulled one of the prongs from his shoulder and picked up the scissors. He advanced toward Alongi until he was an “arm’s length” away. Cianfrocco then fired his gun, hitting Rozario.
Rozario had rushed past Cianfrocco at Alongi, so that Cianfrocco was a few feet to Rozarrio’s left side and one step behind when he fired. The first bullet entered Rozario’s left arm and travelled into his chest when it struck his left lung and heart.
Cianfrocco told investigators it seemed Rozario “was on a mission.” “He’s not gonna stop,” the officer claimed.
“Shoot him,” Alongi had yelled, a split-second after his partner fired.
Alongi told investigators he had drawn his gun, but it jammed – the first time in his career, the report said. “I thought I was going to die,” he said. “Even a bullet didn’t stop him.”
Rozario’s mother pushed him into the kitchen where mother and son briefly struggled over the scissors.
Rozario picked up the scissors again as the officers yelled at him to drop them. Cianfrocco fired two more shots and then a third.
Rozario was still standing, and he fired one more time. In all, five shots were fired.
The officers cuffed Rozario, and one cop began performing chest compressions while the second called for an ambulance, the report said. The young man was declared dead at the hospital.
James’ office concluded by urging the citywide expansion of the B-Heard program which pairs medics with mental health specialists to respond to such episodes and training for cops to work with those teams.
The office also recommended the passage of Daniel’s Law, which would allow a public health-based response to instances involving the mentally rather than the current default of just the police.
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