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QUEENS WEEKLY, AUGUST 25, 2019
Firm sues NYPD for footage of Maspeth shooting
Nonprofi t seeks bodycam video of gunfi re that killed knife-wielding woman with mental health history
BY MAX PARROTT
Nonprofit law firm New
York Lawyers for the Public
Interest (NYLPI) filed a
lawsuit Monday against
the New York City Police
Department to obtain the
body camera footage and
911 call tapes from the
NYPD’s fatal shooting of
Maspeth resident Susan
Muller last September.
NYPD officers, while
responding to a burglary
that Muller, 54, called in
herself, shot and killed her
on Sept. 17, 2018, after she
lunged at the responding
officers with a 10-inch
kitchen knife in her home
in Queens, according to
police officials.
Muller’s irrational
behavior had reportedly
been known to her
precinct. Officers at the
104th Precinct, who had
responded to nine 911
calls to her home since
2000, were familiar with
her — but on the day of
her shooting, members of
the 110th, 111th and 114th
precincts responded to
the call because they were
covering for 104th Precinct
who were attending a
funeral for a fellow officer.
In the wake of the
shooting, NYLPI made a
Freedom of Information
Law (FOIL) request for the
unedited audio and video
files from all of the bodyworn
cameras of every
officer involved in the
incident. The law firm also
requested unedited audio
files from the 911 calls made
by Muller that day.
Several days after the
incident, John Mastronardi,
former commanding
officer of the 104th Precinct
in Ridgewood, assured
attendees of a community
meeting that at least one
or two of the officers at
the scene were wearing
body cameras. But the
NYLPI claims that when
it attempted to obtain the
footage, the NYPD issued a
blanket denial, and refused
to provide even redacted
portions of audio and
video files.
Following a separate
NYLPI lawsuit, the state
Supreme Court ordered the
NYPD in June to turn over
unedited body cam footage
in the fatal police shooting
of Miguel Richards, an
individual with disabilities.
Ruth Lowenkron, director
of the disability justice
program at NYLPI,
along with former NYPD
Assistant Commissioner
Stuart Parker and legal
counsel at Milbank, filed
the suit.
“We should not have
to take the NYPD to court
repeatedly to confirm
the public’s right under
New York’s Freedom of
Information Law to view
body-worn camera footage
of tragic incidents where
people with disabilities
who call 911 are shot
by police officers,” said
Lowenkron. “How many
more New Yorkers need
to die before we reform
the way we handle mental
health crises?”
Reach reporter Max
Parrott by email at
mparrott@schnepsmedia.
com or by phone at (718)
260-2507.
Police enter the 69th Street home in Maspeth following a police-involved shooting on Sept. 17.
Photo by Robert Stridiron/RHS News
City cuts ribbon on restored Sunset Cove in Broad Channel
BY BILL PARRY
Sunset Cove in Broad
Channel has been reborn.
A decade ago this
portion of the Jamaica
Bay waterfront was a
dumping ground but after
a $14 million ecological
restoration it is a pristine
salt marsh and bird
habitat.
The city’s Parks
Department joined elected
officials and community
leaders to cut the ribbon
to officially open the new
park Tuesday and celebrate
the new open space that
will also help protect Broad
Channel from floodwaters
and improve the health of
Jamaica Bay.
“After being closed for
a decade, Sunset Cove has
been brought back to life,”
NYC Parks Commissioner
Mitchell Silver said. “This
park is so important
because it provides storm
protection, and improves
the health of our waterways.
It’s a park where people
can come to take in the
waterfront views, and to
learn more about Jamaica
Bay, one of the wildest and
most natural areas in our
city.”
Sunset Cove Park is a
12.57-acre site located on
a former abandoned and
derelict marina. Workers
removes nearly 30,000 cubic
yards of hazardous and
contaminated soil, restored
4.5 acres of salt marsh and
7 acres of maritime upland,
constructed a perimeter
berm and walking trail,
installed 16,000 tons of clean
sand and planted 200,000
new plugs to reestablish the
salt marsh.
A second phase of
construction will build
a boardwalk to provide
shoreline access over the
salt marsh, as well as a
seasonal dock and oyster
garden with construction
beginning in 2021.
“It was amazing to see
the major changes made to
Sunset Cove as we ushered
in a new day for the Broad
Channel community,” state
Senator Joseph Addabbo
said. “What was once a
blight area riddled with
abandoned boats is now a
beautiful, thriving natural
space. However, there is
still much work to be done
at Sunset Cove and I look
forward to being part of
its Phase 2 environmental
and educational
improvements.”
NYC Parks partnered
with the Jamaica
Bay-Rockaway Parks
Conservancy and the
Jamaica Bay Eco watchers
to recruit volunteers to
help populate the site with
plantings. The restored
salt marsh will now help to
improve water quality in
Jamaica Bay, and reduce
wave and wind impacts
during storms, and provide
rich wildlife habitats and
reduce erosion.
“The Jamaica Bay
Ecowatchers are excited to
see the new Sunset Cove
Park officially open to
the public. This restored
natural area will allow
visitors to experience the
beauty of Jamaica Baty
while providing critical
ecological functions such
as cleaning the waters of
the bay, creating critical
habitat for the bays wildlife
and sequestering carbon to
help with climate change,”
Jamaica Bay Ecowatchers
President Dan Mundy said.
The restoration was
stalled until Mayor Bill de
Blasio allocated $7 million
to match an existing $7
million from the U.S.
Department of the Interior.
Construction began
in spring 2018 and was
completed in June.
“Sunset Cove is such
an absolutely incredible
victory for this community,”
Assemblywoman Stacey
Pheffer Amato said. “This
community resource
will not only show off the
natural beauty of our water
and its ecosystem, but will
create the next generation
of environmentalists to
preserve and protect it.”
Sunset Cove Park opened in Broad Channel after a
$14 million salt marsh restoration project.
Courtesy Dan Avila/NYC Parks
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