Genaro watched as four police officers crowded out of the elevator, their boots thudding through the narrow hallway of the apartment building where he lives with his parents and brother, in Flushing, Queens. The officer in front carried a shield that blocked her from head to knees, as though she were facing down a riot, though Genaro was alone.
He tried to explain that this wasn’t what his family needed. He’d called 911 to ask for an ambulance for his older brother Steven, who is diagnosed with schizophrenia. Steven had been agitated and moody for weeks, not sleeping and smoking too much marijuana. Earlier that evening, he’d started an argument with their father, yelling and pounding on a kitchen cabinet.
When things like this had happened before, Genaro, who was 20 years old when the police came, tried to lay low in his room and focus on his homework. But that night, in October 2024, he felt fed up. He walked into the kitchen and told Steven not to disrespect their father. Steven got angrier and knocked over the family’s TV, which shattered on the floor. Genaro’s temper snapped, and he punched Steven in the face…