A new federal lawsuit has been filed against an NYPD officer who allegedly shot a man unjustifiably in Brooklyn while guarding Mayor Eric Adams' residence in 2022. As reported by The Gothamist, Shahid Woodstock filed the lawsuit last week, claiming that NYPD Officer David Barker shot him as he was trying to enter his apartment building.
The incident occurred on September 29, 2022, during a period of intense police activity in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood following an earlier shooting that day. In this prior event, two people had been shot and prompted a large-scale police response. While one suspect was quickly apprehended, authorities believed another suspect was involved and still at large.
Woodstock was walking near the scene of the initial shooting when two individuals exited an unmarked vehicle and approached him. According to the lawsuit, Barker was one of these individuals and fired two shots from behind Woodstock, striking him once in the leg while the other nearly missed his head. Despite Woodstock wearing different clothing than the suspect description, he was treated as a suspect in the earlier shooting, arrested, and hospitalized.
Subsequent to the incident, Woodstock was charged with illegal possession of firearms after a search of his apartment following the arrest yielded two guns. He later pleaded guilty to these charges. The police, however, never linked him to the original shooting incident.
At a press conference following the shooting, NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey stated that Woodstock had been involved in a “short pursuit,” during which he appeared to reach for his waistband and turned towards the officers, which led them to believe he was armed. The lawsuit disputes this account, alleging that officers attempted to justify the use of deadly force. It also highlights that footage from Barker's body camera has not been released.
The lawsuit names several defendants, including Mayor Eric Adams, Chief Maddrey, Officer Barker, and other involved NYPD personnel. It seeks unspecified financial damages and claims that Woodstock's rights were violated. Additional plaintiffs include a resident who tried to assist Woodstock after he was shot and Tiffanie Narinesammy, a pregnant woman who lived in the same apartment building. Narinesammy alleges that the stress of the incident caused her to deliver a stillborn baby six weeks later.
Following the shooting, it reportedly took officers 10 minutes to administer first aid to Woodstock. Both Narinesammy and the resident who tried to help Woodstock were arrested and held for over 24 hours without being charged.
Woodstock’s attorney, M.K. Kaishian, argues that this case exemplifies a culture within the NYPD of “protecting cops above all else,” rather than “delivering on transparency or fairness or justice.”
