Last summer, 50 bullets were fired during a chaotic Harlem block party—and 46 were from police guns. One man, Luis Soto, died from a police bullet and another, Angel Alvarez, was shot at least 23 times, mostly from the police. Yesterday, a grand jury decided against bringing criminal charges against the police, but Alvarez is looking to sue the NYPD. His lawyer said, "It appears their mentality was: Shoot first and ask questions later."
Alvarez was cleared of criminal charges as well earlier this week: The 24-year-old had been in jail ever since the August shooting, but a grand jury believed his story that Soto pulled a gun on him—the two men had been fighting—and Alvarez said he tried to wrestle the gun away, but the gun fired three times into him.
Alvarez spoke to the NY Times and recounted what happened next: "Then, according to Mr. Alvarez, bullets began flying from behind him. Initially, he said, he had assumed that friends of Mr. Soto were shooting at him, though he later learned that it was the police. Mr. Alvarez also said a police officer kicked him in the head and told him, 'You’re going to die.'" He added, "It was like being hit with a machine gun... I have 27 holes in my body."
Alvarez, who was given a mystery novel, One Step Behind, by a fellow Rikers Island inmate—Nicholas Brooks, accused of killing his girlfriend at the Soho House—was relieved at being free and hugged his three-year-old son after the grand jury's decision. He said, "I thought I was never going to come home. They didn't have no evidence against me with cops - it's really difficult to have a case against cops."
