TWO NYPD COPS UNDER INVESTIGATION FOR FAILING TO AID STABBED 15-YEAR-OLD BRONX BOY

NYPD reviewing whether responding officers failed to help teen Bronx stabbing victim

WABC
June 27, 2018

BRONX, New York City -- The NYPD is reviewing whether two officers who responded to the fatal stabbing of a 15-year-old in the Bronx last week failed to provide him aid, Eyewitness News has learned.

As part of the stabbing investigation, the department became aware that two officers did not provide medical aid to Lesandro Guzman-Feliz when he collapsed outside St Barnabas Hospital.

Cell video recovered by the department shows passersby with napkins trying to stop the bleeding.

The officers are seen standing near the boy but not aiding.

"There is no internal affairs investigation. While the NYPD is reviewing the response, so far it appears the officers handled this appropriately," a police source tells Eyewitness News.

In the video, Guzman-Feliz is seen covered in blood and dying outside St Barnabas Hospital. A woman is trying to stop the bleeding. Others are heard trying to comfort Lesandro while two police officers are seen standing back.

At one point, another person rushes past the officers to tend to the boy.

New York City Council Member Francisco Moy is demanding an investigation.

Seven of the eight suspects arrested in the brutal murder of Guzman-Feliz made their first court appearances Wednesday, as thousands of mourners gathered to bid a final farewell to the boy affectionately known as Junior.

Six men were extradited from Paterson, New Jersey, to join the two others who were arrested in the Bronx. They are facing charges ranging from first-degree murder to assault in the death of Lesandro Guzman-Feliz. The suspects were ordered held without bail and are due back in court on July 2

The attack happened outside a bodega on East 183rd Street and Bathgate Avenue in the Tremont section just after 11:30 p.m. last Wednesday, in what authorities believe was a case of mistaken identity that left the entire community outraged.

Guzman-Feliz was dragged outside and slashed and stabbed with a machete after police say the group of gang members mistook him for a rival. The teen, who had hopes of becoming an NYPD detective, tried to run to St. Barnabas Hospital a block away but collapsed on the sidewalk.

Kevin Alvarez, 19, was the first to be arrested Sunday night. He was charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter, gang assault and assault.

Police then raided a house in Paterson known as a hangout for the gang allegedly involved in the murder, taking six suspects into custody.

Their names and charges are as follows:

--Jose Muniz, 21, of Paterson: First- and second-degree murder, manslaughter, gang assault and assault with intent to cause serious injury with a weapon

--Jose Taverez, 21, of the Bronx: Second-degree murder, manslaughter, gang assault and assault with intent to cause serious injury with a weapon

--Manuel Rivera, 18, of the Bronx: Second-degree murder, manslaughter, gang assault and assault with intent to cause serious injury with a weapon, and criminal possession of a weapon

--Daniel Fernandez, 21, of the Bronx: Second-degree murder, manslaughter, gang assault and assault with intent to cause serious injury with a weapon

--Jonaiki Martinez-Estrella, 24, of Freeport: First- and second-degree murder, manslaughter, gang assault and assault with intent to cause serious injury with a weapon

--Antonio Santiago-Hernandez, 24, of the Bronx: First- and second-degree murder, manslaughter, gang assault and assault with intent to cause serious injury with a weapon

Then on Tuesday, 23-year-old Elvin Garcia was arrested in the Bronx. He is charged with first- and second-degree murder, manslaughter and criminal possession of weapon.

Authorities identified Martinez-Estrella, who has a prior arrest for robbing and beating a 14-year-old with a golf club in 2016, as the one who sliced the victim's neck.