Testimony: Committee on Public Safety Oversight Hearing, Sept. 2025

At the Committee on Public Safety's hearing on Oversight on September 22, 2025, Samy Feliz delivered the following testimony:

My name is Samy Feliz. I am the younger brother of Allan Feliz, who was killed by NYPD Lt. Jonathan Rivera during an unjust traffic stop in 2019.

I am here to make sure that Commissioner Tisch has not tricked any of you into believing she cares about police accountability or the safety of New Yorkers. Last month, she made it very clear that she only cares about protecting her own interests and shielding abusive officers when she refused to fire Lt. Jonathan Rivera, who murdered my brother, in spite of her own Deputy Commissioner’s guilty verdict.

Many of you know Allan’s story. He was pulled over by then-sergeant Rivera and Officers Michelle Almanzar and Edward Barrett on October 17, 2019, for allegedly not wearing his seatbelt, which he was. In mere minutes, the officers escalated; threatening, beating and tasing my brother. Then Rivera shot Allan point-blank in the chest and let him bleed out in the street.

For almost six years, my family and I have fought to overcome countless obstacles and delays to get a sliver of accountability for Allan’s murder: missing work, rallying and protesting instead of mourning. We thought our struggle was finally coming to an end when Deputy Commissioner Rosemarie Maldonado saw through Rivera’s lies at the discipline trial, found him guilty and recommended he be fired earlier this past February. It seemed like finally we would be able to tell Allan’s six-year-old son that the officer who murdered his father would no longer have a badge and gun.

Then, after Commissioner Tisch dragged her feet for another six months, she overturned her own Deputy Commissioner’s guilty verdict. Tisch’s preliminary decision was first reported in the New York Post alongside quotes from the sergeants, detectives and lieutenant police unions, all singing her praises. Tisch made her decision without sitting through the trial, without witnessing Lt. Rivera’s live testimony. She tossed Maldondo’s credibility finding using a five-year-old report that was based on a different legal standard. At best that seems like an arbitrary joke, at worst it is catering to the whims of the police unions for political gain. 

It’s hard to put into words how devastated, disappointed, and hurt my family and I were at this shameful, corrupt decision. My family and our community has endured so much anguish, fighting for the bare minimum of accountability for years - only for Tisch to throw it all away. 

We had been hopeful that Commissioner Tisch would hear the cries of community members, organizations, and elected officials, asking, very simply, for Rivera to be fired, especially because of all her promises to clean up the NYPD. Instead, she proved she is just like all the other police commissioners we’ve had and just like Mayor Adams: more interested in protecting themselves and their political goals than New Yorkers. Tisch’s decision proves - the sole authority to discipline officers must be stripped from the Commissioner so families like my own have a fair chance at achieving some semblance of accountability. 

My family no longer has any trust in the NYPD. The prospect of getting pulled over is terrifying. We are scared to call 911, because it could be Lt. Jonathan Rivera who answers the call. When I see a cop on the street, I don’t feel secure or safe - I feel anxious and scared for my life. I still have nightmares of my brother screaming in pain as Rivera beat and tased him. This fear is not an overstatement: since killing Allan, Rivera has continued to harm New Yorkers. In 2023 the CCRB substantiated a fireable misconduct charge against  him, adding to the laundry list of nearly 39 misconduct allegations against him. The question remains: why is he still on the force?

Thank you.