NYPD Denies FOIL Request for Files on NYPD Crash That Killed Felix Coss

NYPD rejected a Streetsblog freedom of information request for files pertaining to a crash in which an on-duty officer killed a pedestrian in Brooklyn.

Felix Coss, 61, was crossing Broadway at Hooper Street, in a crosswalk with the signal, on the afternoon of July 6, 2013, when Officer Paula Medrano struck him with a marked van from the 90th Precinct while making a left turn, according to reports and photos of the scene.

DNAinfo and the Daily News cited witnesses who said Medrano was seen talking on a cell phone at the time of the collision. “She had a cellphone to her right ear,” a witness told the Daily News. “She hit him. When she hit him, he fell on the floor and cracked his head open.”

The crash was reportedly investigated by the Internal Affairs Bureau, but the results of that investigation were not publicized in the media. Medrano’s name never appeared in an online database of court records.

On May 7, Streetsblog filed a FOIL request for records related to the crash. On May 26, NYPD Lieutenant Richard Mantellino rejected our request, citing “an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy,” the same language Mantellino used to deny our FOIL for records pertaining to the 2012 curb-jump crash that killed Mike Rogalle. As with the Rogalle crash, NYPD could have redacted whatever personal information the department deemed necessary, but again chose to withhold all files.

NYPD shields information pertaining to traffic crash investigations from the public — and victims’ families — as a matter of course. NYPD is especially secretive concerning crashes involving police personnel, withholding data even from other city departments.

Streetsblog is appealing NYPD’s rejection of our request for information on the crash that killed Felix Coss.