Officer guarding mayor’s house unjustifiably shot a man from behind, lawsuit says

An NYPD officer who was guarding Mayor Eric Adams’ home in Brooklyn in 2022 unjustifiably shot a man who was entering his own apartment building, according to a federal lawsuit filed on Wednesday.

The shooting happened amid heavy police activity in Bedford-Stuyvesant on Sept. 29, 2022, after an incident in which two people were shot, the NYPD said. Officers in the area immediately arrested one suspect for that first shooting, but a second suspect was thought to be at large, according to the lawsuit.

A half-hour later, Shahid Woodstock was walking around the corner from where the shooting took place when he said he saw two men, one brandishing a gun, get out of an unmarked van and run toward him, the lawsuit says. One of the officers, David Barker, shot Woodstock, who was then 22, from behind, according to the suit.

One bullet hit Woodstock in the leg and another narrowly missed his head, according to Woodstock’s attorney, M.K. Kaishian. Woodstock was believed to be a suspect even though he was wearing different colored clothing than the description of the suspect that went over police radio, the lawsuit says. He was arrested and hospitalized, it says.

However, police never connected Woodstock to the shooting that had taken place earlier, and the following day he was charged with illegal possession for two guns found during a search of his apartment that took place after the incident, according to the suit. Woodstock pleaded guilty, according to Kaishian.

A spokesperson for the NYPD declined to comment. A spokesperson for the mayor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment after the suit was filed late Wednesday.

NYPD records show Barker, a 24-year NYPD veteran, is part of the Uniformed Operations Unit. That unit functions in the same NYPD division as the mayor’s security detail and is in charge of guarding sensitive locations that the mayor frequents, like Gracie Mansion and City Hall, according to the city Department of Investigation . The suit says Barker’s unit was guarding the mayor’s house at the time.

After the incident, NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey said at a press conference that Woodstock had grabbed at his waistband and turned toward officers with what appeared to be a weapon. Footage from Barker’s body-worn camera has not been released, Kaishian said.

Maddrey, Adams, Barker, and several NYPD officers and officials are named in the suit.

“I think this demonstrates a culture of protecting cops above all else -- whether they’re former cops, or current cops,” she said. “The priority is not finding out what actually happened or delivering on transparency or fairness or justice. It’s about holding the thin blue line.”

A Daily News article at the time notes that police alleged Woodstock had prior arrests for robbery, but Woodstock's attorney said Woodstock had never been convicted of a crime before the incident.

The suit, which seeks unspecified financial damages, claims that after the shooting, officers “attempted to retroactively construct an alternative explanation” for the unlawful pursuit of Woodstock and the use of deadly force against him. After being charged with criminal possession of weapons in his home, Woodstock pleaded guilty and was arrested months later on an unrelated gun possession charge. He is now serving a sentence in prison upstate.

Woodstock alleges in the suit that he feared for his life as he was shot trying to get into the apartment building. A resident tried to administer aid to his wound, but Woodstock, who was unsure why he was shot and thought he could still be in danger, urged the resident to find cover, according to the suit.

Police smashed a glass door to get into the building, according to the suit. It took 10 minutes for the NYPD to apply a tourniquet to Woodstock's gunshot wound, the suit alleges, and Woodstock was then arrested and hospitalized.

The resident who tried to help and Tiffanie Narinesammy, a pregnant woman that man was staying with, were also arrested and held for more than 24 hours, the lawsuit says. They were ultimately not charged with crimes. Both are also plaintiffs in the suit and allege that their rights were violated.

Six weeks after the shooting, Narinesammy delivered a still-born baby, the lawsuit says. The suit claims that the shock of the shooting and ensuing detention resulted in trauma and complications to her pregnancy.

Woodstock has restricted mobility of his right leg due to the shooting, according to his lawyer.

Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the day the lawsuit was filed.