Six months after deadly Nassau police shooting, protesters seek answers
Family and friends of Matthew Felix, the 19-year-old man shot and killed by Nassau County police in February near his Queens home, rallied at the site of his death on Sunday in an effort to bring awareness to the case they say has been stalled for months.
Felix was followed by Nassau County police officers into Queens on Feb. 25. At the time, police said he was a suspect in a carjacking that took place in Garden City Park — something family members have said is not true.
“We want to know how many officers were involved, how many times they shot Matthew and all the edited footage of what happened,” said Felix’s sister, Samantha, who spoke at the rally, which started on Linden Boulevard in Elmont and ended at the scene of his shooting in Cambria Heights, Queens. “That will bring us closer just a little bit to understanding what happened to Matthew.”
She said she hoped the rally would put pressure on the state Attorney General's Office, Nassau County Police Department and Nassau County Executive Laura Curran's office to release more information about the shooting.
"We want the Nassau County Police Department to hold their officers accountable," Felix said. "We don’t know what happened to those officers. We don’t know whether they were suspended or on desk duty. We don’t know."
Curran's office deferred to the Nassau County Police Department.
"We are unable to comment due to pending investigation," said Det. Lt. Richard LeBrun, a Nassau police spokesman,
The New York State Attorney General's Office responded that the investigation into Felix’s death is still ongoing.
Speakers at the rally said Felix’s death is part of a long pattern of Black people dying after encounters with police, including George Floyd in Minneapolis and Breonna Taylor in Louisville.
The lack of information six months after Felix's death is troubling, they said.
“It’s extremely frustrating,” said Victor Dempsey, the brother of Delrawn Small, who was shot and killed by an off-duty NYPD officer in 2016 during a road rage incident in Brooklyn. Dempsey is helping the Felix family in their search for answers and also spoke at the rally.
“The family didn’t get a lot of information at the beginning, so they gave them some time,” he told Newsday. “But they still don’t know what happened.”
The group rallied in Elmont and then formed a caravan of cars to Cambria Heights.
Once there, they gathered at Linden Boulevard and 217th Street, chanting “Justice for Matthew Felix,” “No Justice, No Peace” and “Black Lives Matter.”
Samantha Felix said she also feels her brother's death did not get as much attention as other police-involved shootings because it happened at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“A lot of people aren’t even aware of what happened,” she said.
With Scott Eidler
Lisa joined Newsday as a staff writer in 2019. She previously worked at amNewYork, the New York Daily News and the Asbury Park Press covering politics, government and general assignment.
Updated now Newsday travel writer Scott Vogel took the ferry over to Block Island for a weekend of fun.
Updated now Newsday travel writer Scott Vogel took the ferry over to Block Island for a weekend of fun.
