Were Officers Watching Soccer When They Struck and Killed Ronald Anthony Smith?

Smith's Sister Responds to Video Release; Calls for Officers to be Prosecuted and Fired

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 20, 2022

MEDIA CONTACT: Yul-san Liem, press@justicecommittee.org

In response to the NYS Attorney General’s release of video footage of the April 7th, 2022 NYPD killing of Ronald Anthony Smith, the Justice Committee released this statement from Julie Floyd, sister of Ronald Anthony Smith:

"The videos released of my brother Ronald Anthony Smith being hit and killed by NYPD Officers Orkhan Mamedov and Evan Siegel is evidence that Mamedov and Siegel need to be fired from the NYPD, and State Attorney General James needs to prosecute both officers. These officers ran a red light, drove against traffic and drove so fast and recklessly on the median that they dragged my brother on the hood of their vehicle another 35 feet after hitting him. There was no emergency and no reason for Officer Mamedov to be speeding on the median. That’s the part of the street where people are supposed to be safe from traffic.

You can see clearly in the video that Officer Mamedov and Siegel had no regard for my brother’s life. Instead of giving him medical aid, the first thing Officer Mamedov did was get on his phone. Memedov then performed inconsistent, one handed chest compressions as he talked on his phone. I’m a trained healthcare worker and am CPR certified. I know what proper CPR looks like and that was not CPR. The whole time, Officer Siegel did nothing to intervene or help my brother.

Furthermore, you can see in Officer Mamedov’s body camera footage, when he first looked at his phone, a soccer game was playing. Were these officers watching a soccer game while speeding down the median? Was my brother murdered because officers cared more about watching a game than about safety?

It’s been eight months with no answers or clear next steps from Mayor Adams, the NYPD, and the Attorney General's office. The video is clear and all of them should be ashamed of yourselves. My family wants Mayor Adams and Commissioner Sewell to fire Officers Mamedov and Siegel immediately, and Attorney General James must prosecute both for the murder of my brother, Ronald Anthony Smith.

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