Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch rejected the recommendation of an administrative judge and said on Thursday that a lieutenant who fatally shot a man during a confrontation that began after a seatbelt stop should not be fired.
In her decision, Commissioner Tisch said Lieutenant Jonathan Rivera shot the man, Allan Feliz, because he believed Mr. Feliz was about to run over Edward Barrett, a police officer who was present during the traffic stop in 2019 in the Bronx.
Commissioner Tisch, who has the final say over discipline, said her decision relied in large part on a report from the state attorney general, Letitia James, who declined to prosecute Lieutenant Rivera in 2020. The police commissioner said she was convinced that Lieutenant Rivera had shot Mr. Feliz because he believed “doing so was necessary to save Officer Barrett’s life.”
She said Lieutenant Rivera had made “a fair and realistic assessment of an incredibly fast-moving, dangerous situation” that required him “to make a split-second decision when he believed that his fellow officer’s life was at immediate risk.”
The decision had been closely watched by union leaders and supporters of families whose loved ones were killed by the police. The families’ allies saw the case as a test of the commissioner’s willingness to discipline officers accused of serious wrongdoing.
Commissioner Tisch, whom Mayor Eric Adams appointed in November, has been praised for shaking up her command staff following scandals and accusations of corruption. But some union officials have complained that discipline that followed has been heavy-handed.
In a statement, Mr. Feliz’s family said members were “furious and devastated by Commissioner Tisch’s outrageous, cowardly and shameful decision.”
“Tisch has made one thing unmistakably clear: Her allegiance is not to the people of New York, but to violent, unaccountable cops who terrorize our communities,” the statement said. Lieutenant Rivera has three substantiated complaints, including for abuse of authority.
Union leaders said the decision sent a message about the fast and agonizing choices officers have to make about use of deadly force.
Lieutenant Rivera, a sergeant at the time of the shooting, “had to take immediate action in a millisecond and undoubtedly saved both his life and the life of his partner,” said Vincent Vallelong, president of the Sergeants Benevolent Association.
James Moschella, a lawyer for the lieutenants’ union who represented Lieutenant Rivera during the two-day administrative trial, praised Commissioner Tisch. The commissioner made a “decision based on the facts and the law, and not because it was politically safe or expedient,” he said.
The Civilian Complaint Review Board, an independent oversight agency, brought the charges against Lieutenant Rivera in 2024, triggering the trial, an internal proceeding that assesses whether an officer has violated department rules or the law.
Rosemarie Maldonado, a deputy police commissioner of trials, issued her recommendation in February, three months after Lieutenant Rivera testified about how a routine stop turned deadly.
On Oct. 17, 2019, Lieutenant Rivera, Officer Barrett and a third officer were patrolling near Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx when they saw that Mr. Feliz, who was driving a Volkswagen Atlas, did not appear to have his seatbelt on.
Mr. Feliz, 31, who was on federal probation for drug-related charges and had cocaine and methamphetamine in his pocket, gave the officers his brother’s driver’s license.
When the officers moved to pat down Mr. Feliz, he tried to drive away, and Officer Barrett tried to pull him out of the car. Lieutenant Rivera shot him with a Taser, then lunged into the Volkswagen and threatened to shoot him. When the car lurched forward, Lieutenant Rivera shot Mr. Feliz once in the chest, killing him.
During the administrative trial, Lieutenant Rivera said that he believed Mr. Feliz had been about to run over Officer Barrett.
“I feared the worst,” he testified.
Commissioner Maldonado said Lieutenant Rivera had tailored his testimony to play down his culpability. She also said that he had failed to confirm that Officer Barrett, who had gotten away from the car before the shooting, was really in danger.
The police “are entrusted with significant power and authority. At the same time, it is expected that they will exercise reasonable, prudent judgment even when confronted with extraordinarily stressful, sometimes frightening, situations,” she wrote at the time.
Lieutenant Rivera’s “actions fell far short of what the department expects,” she wrote. “Tragically, Mr. Allan Feliz lost his life.”
Ms. James, the attorney general, recommended in her report that officers not enter a vehicle when a suspect is in control of the wheel.
Commissioner Tisch acknowledged that Lieutenant Rivera put himself at a “tactical disadvantage” by going into the car.
“That cannot preclude him from acting to save another officer’s life,” she wrote.
Since 2013, when the Review Board began prosecuting cases, there have been 267 guilty verdicts. A commissioner has sided with the administrative judge in 90 percent of those decisions, according to the board’s records.
In a statement Thursday, Jonathan Darche, executive director of the board, said that the agency would file a response. “We are hopeful that we will be able to persuade the commissioner to uphold Deputy Commissioner Maldonado’s finding,” he said.
Maria Cramer is a Times reporter covering the New York Police Department and crime in the city and surrounding areas.
Chelsia Rose Marcius is a criminal justice reporter for The Times, covering the New York Police Department.
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