NYPD Sued By Family Of Teen Killed On 88th Precinct Steps

The family of a Clinton Hill teen is suing the New York City Police Department and the city for allegedly ignoring the 16-year-old’s pleas for help and then sending him back out of the precinct house — where he was shot and killed.

However, although the NYPD does not dispute that Laquan Nelson, 16, died on the steps of the 88th Precinct station house at 298 Classon Avenue, at the corner of DeKalb Avenue, they say he never made it inside and, thus, was never turned away by cops.

According to the New York Post:

An NYPD spokeswoman said the shooting is an active homicide investigation but added probers found no evidence Nelson entered the precinct before he was killed.

“The allegations were reported to the Internal Affairs Bureau and investigated by the respective Housing Bureau Investigations Unit,” said NYPD Deputy Chief Kim Royster. “The internal case was closed with a disposition of ‘unsubstantiated.’ ”

Police sources argued Nelson never went into the building and that he was shot a half-block down Classon Avenue before running toward the station house and collapsing outside.

NYPD investigators found no surveillance footage showing Nelson entering the building, police sources said.

Nelson’s family and lawyer dispute that claim, with attorney Douglas Herbert stating that the teen had fled a fight at a basketball court and “first asked some cops in a marked patrol car for help” but that “they told him to go across the street so he’d be in the 79th Precinct and not their problem.”

Nelson’s cousin, Isiah Freeman, 19, was also allegedly with him when he died. Freeman told the New York Post that right before he was shot, Nelson said, ‘they wasn’t listening to me and they kicked me out. The cops weren’t trying to hear what I was saying.”