Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch refused to fire an officer — finding that he stepped in to save a fellow cop’s life — going against recommendations from a civilian board that mayoral front-runner Zohran Mamdani now wants to embolden.
Tisch went against the Civilian Complaint Review Board’s wishes when she bucked an administrative judge’s ruling and determined Lt. Jonathan Rivera’s fatal shooting of unarmed ex-con Allan Feliz was justified.
The top cop argued that Rivera had opened fire during the Oct. 17, 2019, Bronx car stop in order to prevent Feliz, 31, from mowing down a fellow brother in blue.
“Looking at the totality of what transpired during the car stop and subsequent struggle, I am convinced that [Rivera] shot Mr. Feliz because he believed that doing so was necessary to save Officer [Edward] Barrett’s life,” she wrote in her July decision.
“There is nothing about this sequence of events that remotely suggests that [Rivera] was looking to discharge his firearm.”
Tisch said she made up her mind after reviewing a separate analysis of the caught-on-camera clash conducted by the State Attorney General’s Office, rather than the one presented by the CCRB at Rivera’s internal trial.
The AG’s office, which is tasked by law with investigating all fatal officer-involved incidents, had probed the tragic encounter and cleared Rivera of criminality — but the CCRB still opted to bring internal charges against the lieutenant.
“Five years later, CCRB wants to say he used excessive force,” railed Lou Turco, president of the Lieutenants Benevolent Association.
“There is more than enough sufficient oversight by the five district attorneys, the attorney general and the police department,” Turco told The Post on Wednesday. “Cops do not need to be investigated by an inexperienced CCRB with zero police experience. That is dangerous for all police officers.”
Mamdani, the Democratic mayoral nominee, said this week he wants to pull the power to make final disciplinary decisions in serious cases away from the NYPD commissioner — and instead leave it up to the CCRB.
That proposal is in line with Mamdani’s lefty allies, including in the progressive City Council — which railed against Tisch’s decision in the Rivera case, calling it “egregious.”
The commish’s finding mirrored that of Attorney General Letitia James’ office, which found the evidence “strongly suggests” the shooting was justified, Tisch said.
The bar to find someone guilty at an internal trial is lower than in a criminal case.
Deputy Trial Commissioner Rosemarie Maldonado, an NYPD administrative judge, had recommended that Rivera be canned after the CCRB brought the case against him and prosecuted him at the internal trial.
Police had pulled over Feliz at around 3 p.m. after an officer said he saw him driving without a seatbelt on. Cops running his license found several open minor warrants, including for littering, spitting and disorderly conduct, and asked him to exit the car.
Cops said he appeared to try to drive away, prompting a struggle to make sure he stayed put and didn’t drag Barrett with him.
Rivera first shot Feliz with a Taser, and then with his firearm when the SUV yanked backwards and Barrett was pushed by the driver-side door to the rear of the vehicle.
Rivera said he believed Barrett had fallen over and was under the wheel of the car.
— Additional reporting by Craig McCarthy
With Post wires
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