Man sues Hempstead Village, cops over shooting, Taser use
A Hempstead man who was shot by police during a confrontation last year has filed a $5 million federal lawsuit against Hempstead Village and its police department alleging “excessive and unreasonable” force. Credit: Kevin P. Coughlin
A Hempstead man who was shot by police during a confrontation last March has filed a $5 million federal lawsuit against Hempstead Village and its police department.
Patrick Alexis, 32, alleges “excessive and unreasonable” force by police officers when they used a Taser and shot him March 18 at his apartment on Washington Avenue after responding to a 911 call, according to a copy of the complaint filed Jan. 22 in U.S. Eastern District Court in Central Islip.
Alexis is seeking $1 million in actual damages, $3 million in punitive damages and $1 million for attorney’s fees. Hempstead Village officials did not respond to a request seeking comment on the lawsuit.
Nassau police said at the time that officers with the Hempstead Village Police Department were responding to a 4:50 a.m. call about a violent man inside the apartment when they were confronted by Alexis.
Alexis allegedly said he had a knife and a gun and was going to shoot the officers, police said in a March news release. Alexis then opened the door while holding a knife and “menaced the Officers,” the release said.
One of the officers used his Taser on Alexis, but according to Nassau police, the device was “ineffective.”
Alexis, still allegedly armed with the knife, “then moved closer to the Officers in a threatening manner causing one of the Officers to discharge his firearm one time, striking [Alexis] in the upper torso,” police said.
Alexis pleaded guilty to a second-degree menacing charge in June and was later sentenced to 3 years of probation, according to the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office. He was initially charged with four counts of menacing a police officer, one count of fourth-degree criminal mischief and one count of fourth-degree possession of a dangerous weapon.
A database of police shootings maintained by the New York State Attorney General’s Office lists its investigation into the incident as “closed.”
The civil complaint alleges police violated Alexis’ constitutional right to “a freedom from assault to his person, freedom from battery to his person and inhuman punishment from the use of excessive and unreasonable force.”
“Defendants subjected plaintiff to such depravation maliciously, recklessly or with deliberate indifference to plaintiff’s rights,” states the complaint filed by Woodbury attorney Martin Ginsberg.
Grant Parpan covers Suffolk County courts and federal courts for Newsday. A Long Island native, he joined Newsday in 2022.
