CCRB Plea Deal Keeps Notoriously Abusive Cop on the Street; Sparks Outrage and Demands for Mayor to Intervene

New York, NY – This morning, NYPD Lt. Jonathan Rivera avoided being fired for harming a New Yorker yet again, despite a record of 40 misconduct allegations and 7 lawsuits. In a shocking reversal, the Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB), which was on course to prosecute him and seek termination, offered Rivera a plea deal for his latest misconduct - issuing an unlawful summons. The deal means Rivera will avoid a discipline trial and is merely being docked vacation days.

This deal comes a year after NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Trials Rosemarie Maldonado found Lt. Rivera guilty of excessive force and assault in the first degree and recommended he be fired for killing Allan Feliz, but Commissioner Jessica Tisch unjustifiably overturned the verdict.

In response, Samy Feliz, brother of Allan Feliz issued the following statement:

“Jonathan Rivera should have been fired after he shot an unarmed 15-year-old in 2013. Instead, he went on to kill my brother, Allan Feliz, in 2019. Then he was outrageously promoted to lieutenant, even as the discipline case for Allan’s murder was ongoing, allowing him to continue abusing New Yorkers, like the person he illegally targeted in this latest case.

Lt. Rivera is a threat to all New Yorkers. Mayor Mamdani, while campaigning you stood with my family outside One Police Plaza calling for Lt. Rivera to be fired. Now it’s time to show New Yorkers you are serious about police discipline and real safety by ensuring your Police Commissioner rejects this plea deal and fires Rivera. 

CCRB, why the sudden reversal? How do you go from prosecution and recommending firing again to twenty docked vacation days? This is not discipline. It just means 20 more days Lt. Jonathan Rivera is patrolling our streets, armed and dangerous – and somehow, it’s still more discipline than he received for murdering my brother in cold blood.

NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, the Lieutenants Union, and now even the CCRB have bent over backwards to protect Lt. Rivera. The only way to understand the CCRB’s plea bargain is as a backroom deal with the NYPD and Mamdani Administration aimed at letting him off the hook at the expense of New Yorkers’ safety. If and when Rivera harms or kills someone else, the blood will be on all of their hands.”

“This latest move by the CCRB reeks of a backroom deal designed to once again protect a notoriously dangerous cop with a terrifying number of misconduct complaints, who was found to have lied under oath, shot an unarmed teenager, killed an unarmed father, and has cost this city at least $115,000 in lawsuits. It is a cowardly betrayal of the New Yorkers the CCRB allegedly serves,” said Loyda Colón (they/them), Executive Director of Justice Committee. “Even the NYPD’s own Deputy Commissioner of Trials agreed that Lt. Rivera should not be allowed to keep his job, badge, and gun. The CCRB should be held to account. Mayor Mamdani has recently asserted that he ‘holds the final decision’ over policing matters. Now is the time to prove it. He must order the Police Commissioner to reject this plea deal and fire Lt. Rivera before he can harm another New Yorker.”

Background

NYPD Lt. Jonathan Rivera has a history of 40 misconduct allegations, 5 of which have been substantiated by the CCRB. Not included in these allegations (because a CCRB complaint wasn’t filed) is the 2013 shooting of an unarmed Black 15-year-old, who Rivera fired at 16 times, including as he appeared to surrender. 

Not only does he have a lengthy misconduct record, but Rivera has a history of being shielded from discipline. 

On October 17, 2019, then-Sgt. Rivera and Officers Edward Barrett and Michelle Almanzar pulled Allan Feliz over in an unjust traffic stop and illegally detained him. Rivera tasered, beat and threatened to shoot Mr. Feliz, and then shot him point blank in the chest. After years of delays and obstruction, the CCRB substantiated fireable charges against Rivera and then prosecuted him at a discipline trial in November 2024. In February 2025, Deputy Commissioner of Trials Rosemarie Maldonado determined Lt. Rivera to be guilty of excessive force and assault in the first degree and recommended he be fired, noting that he was not credible and lied on the stand to protect himself. Despite public outcry, Commissioner Tisch unjustifiably overturned Maldonado’s guilty verdict and refused to fire Lt. Rivera in August 2025. The Feliz family and Justice Committee are currently suing Commissioner Tisch for her arbitrary and capricious decision to ignore her Deputy Commissioner’s guilty verdict and let Rivera off with no discipline.

Since killing Mr. Feliz in 2019, Jonathan Rivera was promoted to Lieutenant and received another 6 misconduct allegations, including a substantiated unlawful summons. Rivera has been named in 7 lawsuits, costing the City at least $115,000 in settlements so far.