A man who says he was shot by an NYPD cop from behind in 2022 while trying to get into his apartment has filed a federal lawsuit.
As detailed in a recent Gothamist report from Matt Katz, the federal suit, filed last week, states that the cop in question, identified as David Barker, was part of a unit tasked with guarding Mayor Eric Adams’ home in the Brooklyn area at the time. Shahid Woodstock, the man who was shot, says he still has limited mobility of his right leg nearly two years later. He was 22 at the time of the shooting.
On Sept. 29, 2022, Woodstock says, he was walking near the area of a separate shooting that same day when two individuals exited an unmarked vehicle. Barker, who’s said to have been one of those individuals, is accused of shooting Woodstock, resulting in one bullet striking him in the leg, while another came close to his head. According to the suit, Woodstock was being treated as a suspect in the aforementioned separate shooting, during which two people were injured, despite the fact that his clothing did not fit the description previously given to police.
As you may have expected, police never successfully linked Woodstock to that shooting, nor was he ever formally charged in connection with it. However, he was later arrested and hospitalized, not to mention ultimately hit with unrelated gun possession-focused charges following a search of his residence.
In a press conference shortly after Woodstock was shot, Jeff Maddrey, NYPD’s Chief of Department, described what he claimed was a "short pursuit" with a suspect.
"During the course of the pursuit, they see the male grab his waist, turn towards them. One of the officers fired two rounds, striking the male in his right lower leg," Maddrey said during the presser. "The male continued to run. He made it inside."
The suit, however, alleges that things went down much differently. According to Woodstock, another resident of the same apartment building initially tried to help him after he was shot, at least until Woodstock himself advised that they instead take cover. That individual, as well as a pregnant woman with whom they were living at the time and who alleges that a subsequent stillborn delivery was triggered by the stress of the incident, are plaintiffs in the suit alongside Woodstock.
Complex has reached out to a listed attorney for Woodstock for comment. We’ve also reached out to the NYPD. This story may be updated.
When reached for comment by Complex on Thursday, a City Hall spokesperson offered the following:
Members of the NYPD work tirelessly every day to protect public safety and our officers respond to challenging policing situations daily. The litigation is pending, and we will allow the process to play out.
Woodstock’s suit—which also names other NYPD cops, as well as Mayor Adams and Maddrey—argues that the shooting was not justified and thus marks a clear violation of his rights.
