NEW YORK — New York City has agreed to pay $12 million to a former Wall Street trader paralyzed in a June 2020 pandemic-era police-involved shooting in Manhattan’s East Village, the Daily News has learned.
Peyman Bahadoran has been permanently confined to a wheelchair without the use of his legs since he was shot by two NYPD officers just before 7 a.m. June 4, 2020, outside a bodega on Third Ave. near E. 10th St.
Bahadoran was in the midst of a mental health episode and was carrying a knife in a sheath on his belt when he walked with his small dog to the bodega and got into a confrontation with two officers.
But he had relinquished the knife in the store and was unarmed when he was shot outside the deli by 9th Precinct Officers Jillian Suarez and Bryan Rozanski.
The NYPD determined the shooting was “within guidelines.” But taxpayers will now have to foot the massive bill for Bahadoran’s continuing medical care and quality of life.
“The Law Department recognized the gravity of what happened, but unfortunately the NYPD did not,” said Earl Ward, Bahadoran’s lawyer who filed the lawsuit in federal court in Manhattan in 2021.
Nicholas Paolucci, a Law Department spokesman, said, “This outcome brings a resolution to all parties.”
The city tried to have the lawsuit dismissed, arguing in part the officers felt in fear for their lives, but in a Nov. 8, 2023, ruling, Manhattan Federal Court Judge Jesse Furman denied the motion. “It is undisputed that he was unarmed at the time of the shooting,” Furman wrote.
The judge noted both Suarez and Rozanski said in depositions they “did not see Bahadoran carrying a knife immediately before they shot him.” Video shows that Lt. Luis Machado, the top-ranking cop on the scene, was holstering his firearm as Suarez and Rozanski fired theirs.
Machado and another cop, Michael Murphy, each said in depositions they saw that Bahadoran was unarmed.
Bahadoran, now 59, is paralyzed below his waist but continues to suffer substantial pain despite the paralysis, Ward said. He is unable to work and has to use a colostomy bag.
“It’s a very difficult and hard life,” Ward added. “He suffers every day as a result of what happened to him.”
Suarez, the daughter of NYPD Officer Ramon Suarez who was killed on 9/11, was transferred to a coveted role in the NYPD Crime Scene Unit in October 2022.
As the settlement talks were reaching a climax earlier in 2024, Suarez was promoted to detective-investigator in January and promoted again to detective third grade in May, NYPD personnel records show.
Rozanski, still an officer, was transferred in November 2023 to the NYPD’s public information office, also considered a desirable post, the records show.
On the day of the incident, Bahadoran left his apartment at about 6:30 a.m. with his small dog and a 12-inch Defender X-Treme knife in a sheath attached to his belt and walked to the Healthy Green Gourmet Deli.
He was in the midst of a manic episode exacerbated by nightly George Floyd protests outside his apartment, The News previously reported.
“I was manic, paranoid, scared, anxious,” Bahadoran told The News back in July 2020. “You are watching everything. You are doing things that are not normal.”
As he entered the deli, Suarez and her partner Melissa Brown of the 9th Precinct also entered, according to the police account and body-worn camera video. Bahadoran began yelling at Brown and drew the knife and began waving it around and walking toward Brown.
Brown fired her Taser, but the prongs didn’t reach Bahadoran’s skin. Suarez took a couple of steps toward Bahadoran from behind him, then backed up and called for help from the doorway.
Brown moved behind the counter. Bahadoran then demanded a pack of cigarettes from the deli clerk and placed the knife on the counter.
The store employee grabbed the knife and handed it to Brown. Bahadoran, holding only a water bottle, then turned toward Suarez and shoved her backward out of the store.
Officers Rozanski and Murphy and Lt. Machado then came running across the intersection. Video shows Bahadoran lunged at Suarez as she fearfully screamed, “Move back!” three times. Bahadoran turned his back on Suarez and lunged at Machado.
Rozanski and Suarez then each fired one shot striking Bahadoran in the lower back and left arm. Machado is seen in video holstering his weapons, suggesting he did not believe Bahadoran was a threat.
Bahadoran was charged with robbery and menacing a police officer. Those charges were later dismissed.