A Bronx man who was shot by NYPD officers responding to a 311 call in 2023 filed a new lawsuit against the department and the city last week, and is seeking damages for his injuries as well as an injunction to prohibit New York City from “continuing to enforce its current police-run mental health crisis response policy.”
Raul de la Cruz experienced a schizophrenic episode while visiting his family in March 2023, and believed he was being persecuted by the government, according to court documents. His father called 311 for help, and two NYPD patrol officers were dispatched to the scene, according to the suit. Neither spoke Spanish, de la Cruz’s primary language, according to court documents, which go on to state that the officers, Derek Bernard and Nicholas Trupia, didn’t formulate a plan or consider appropriate tactics to safely manage and de-escalate the situation. When de la Cruz started walking toward the officers while holding a knife, he was shot seven times, according to the suit. The documents say he suffered physical and psychological injuries and still has a bullet lodged in his back.
The lawsuit was filed on April 29, a month after a federal judge dismissed de la Cruz’s previous case against the city. De la Cruz appealed that case to the federal Second Circuit Court of Appeals this week. This new lawsuit filed with the state, his lawyer Jody Yetzer said, makes the same arguments as the federal case but had to be refiled because the federal judge did not want to rule on certain claims related to state laws. It also comes as New York City’s new mayor, Zohran Mamdani, has expressed support for reforming the NYPD and how the city responds to mental health emergencies…