[AmNY] Allan Feliz remembered on Father’s Day as his family awaits justice

By Tandy Lau

“He showed me what love looks like, what safety feels like, and how a girl should be treated,” wrote Kilsi Polanco about her stepfather Allan Feliz. She penned her letter this past Father’s Day to NYPD commissioner Jessica Tisch, who gets the final say on firing the cop who killed him.

“I’m proud of her for sharing her story,” said Julie Aquino, Polanco’s mother and Feliz’s partner. “But it makes me sad that she has to. She should be focused on her studies, her friends, the things that other 20 year olds should be doing. She shouldn’t have to raise her voice to get the cop who killed her dad fired.

“We know Tisch cannot bring our loved ones back, but she can take steps towards making sure that no mother, no child, has to suffer what we had at the hands of her officers.”

This past February, an NYPD disciplinary trial determined Lt. Jonathan Rivera violated department protocol when he beat, tased and fatally shot Feliz during a 2019 traffic stop. He should be terminated based on the NYPD guidelines. However, Tisch remains the final say and has remained largely mum four months after the trial’s decision.

Eric Garner’s death provides the only precedent for Feliz’s family regarding an NYPD court greenlighting an officer’s termination after a successful Civil Complaint Review Board (CCRB) prosecution. Then-commissioner James O’Neill fired Daniel Pantaleo just a few weeks after his disciplinary trial concluded. Tisch does not face a deadline to make her decision.

Feliz raised Polanco since she was three years old and also had a son with Aquino shortly before his death. “To me, he is my dad in every way that matters,” Polanco wrote in the letter. Before his death, Feliz looked forward to taking them to Disney World and moving into a larger space with a backyard. And picking out a tiny Halloween costume for his toddler.

“Those are things that we got to experience, me and Allan got to go to Disney World and experience that together,” said Feliz’s brother Samy. “He remembered being a child, and how it will stick with us for the rest of our lives and what kind of impact those moments have of being with your family and then being in such a huge place and having those memorable moments.

“For Allan, it was just like trying to get a running start in creating those everlasting, memorable moments.”

His son recently graduated from kindergarten. Polanco was 15 when the shooting occurred and is now in college studying social work. And Rivera received a promotion from sergeant to lieutenant.

The family mentioned challenges for explaining what happened to Feliz’s son. “For a while, it even hurt to look at him, because he looks just like our dad,” wrote Polanco in the letter. Aquino recounted how her son recently devised a plan to “bring his dad back.”

“To explain to my son that’s impossible is super emotional,” she said. “It’s really hard. It gets me sad, but I stay strong and I just tell him ‘you look just like him.’ He tells me, ‘why do people say, oh look a little Allan. Oh, just like his dad.’ And I’m like you’re his twin. You look just like him, you smile like him.”

Aquino and Feliz’s mother Mery Verdeja also penned a letter to Tisch this past Mother’s Day calling for Rivera’s termination. Other mothers of police violence victims — including Amadou Diallo’s mother Kadiatou Diallo — signed the letter. Tisch responded to them roughly two weeks later with a neutral statement about how she could not comment on pending matters.

But while justice may be delayed, Aquino believes justice will be served if Tisch terminates Rivera. “We will have some sort of peace, but we won’t get Allan back,” she said. Meanwhile, the NYPD promoted Rivera, who was a sergeant, when he shot Feliz.

Tisch’s first major test on officer discipline follows her predecessor Edward Caban burying misconduct cases with “retention” powers. He prevented more than 50 substantiated CCRB investigations from reaching trial in just his first year, reported ProPublica.

To be clear, the NYPD handles disciplinary in-house even before the commissioner’s final stamp of approval. Cases like Rivera’s go in front of a NYPD deputy commissioner who serves as a de facto judge. The CCRB cannot impose disciplinary actions on offending officers and does not “recommend” an officer’s punishment, as is commonly reported. Instead, a “presumptive penalty” assigned by the NYPD disciplinary matrix determines how misconduct is dealt with.

Since her appointment last November, Tisch is credited with overhauling NYPD culture. She cracked down on excessive overtime and several controversial figures like chief Jeffrey Maddrey — who evaded disciplinary measures under Caban — departed under her leadership. She previously headed the Department of Sanitation and worked for the NYPD in a civilian capacity.

Three democratic mayoral candidates previously supported Feliz’s family in their current elected roles: NYC Comptroller Brad Lander, Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani, and State Senator Jessica Ramos. Lander hails as Tisch’s biggest proponent in the race and promised to retain her as police commissioner if elected. Ramos and Mamdani did not raise their hands when moderators asked candidates on who would keep Tisch in her role during the first primary debate.

“Whoever the next mayor is — and whether they change the police commissioner or not — my direct ask for me and my family would be to grant us the [police accountability] that you all love to run on,” said Samy Feliz.

Allan Feliz’s grand ambitions of a Disney World family vacation remain on hold after his death six years later. But Aquino is determined to take their son to Orlando. “I feel like his dream [wasn’t fulfilled], but I’ll make sure that my son does go to Disney World and gets to see what his father wanted him to see.”

Read on AmNY