Pelham shooting: Victims to sue NYPD, officer for $90 million

Greg Shillinglaw, gshillingl@lohud.com 6:01 p.m. EDT July 1, 2014

Robert Borrelli said Tuesday he honestly doesn't know why an off-duty New York City police officer targeted him and his friend during an alleged shooting ambush in Pelham.

Borrelli somehow managed to elude the 14 bullets fired at his car on April 29, but his passenger Joseph Felice, is still recovering after being hit six times.

Roughly two months after the incident, the two men announced Tuesday at their attorneys' Manhattan office that they intend to sue the city, its police commissioner, and their suspected drunken attacker, Brendan Cronin, for $90 million in federal court.

"What happened to Rob and me was a random act of violence committed by a ruthless man. This could have happened to anyone," Felice said in a statement read by Borrelli at the press conference announcing the two men were filing notices of claim — a precursor to a civil lawsuit. Felice, who was shot in the torso, shoulder, arm and hand, was not present.

Brendan Cronin, an off-duty New York City police officer from Yonkers opened fire on a car in Pelham late Tuesday, wounding a man inside, police said.

Attorneys for the two men called the shooting one of the worst in a long line of incidents involving drunk New York police officers. They demanded Police Commissioner William Bratton take action to address a problem they said he's known about about for years: the dangerous combination of cops abusing alcohol and misusing their service weapons.

Cronin, 27, a six-year veteran of the police force, has been suspended without pay since the shooting. The notices, which also name a police sergeant and several anonymous officers as defendants, come as Cronin awaits to hear whether he will be indicted on criminal charges. The case has been presented to a grand jury.

He was charged shortly after the attack with first-degree assault and released on bail from the Westchester County jail. The charge carries a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison.

According to the notices of claim, Cronin was drinking on duty as he trained during the day of the shooting. After completing the training, he spent several more hours drinking at a bar and watching a hockey game with fellow officers before driving home.

Instead of heading to Yonkers, the claims say Cronin stopped in Pelham where he parked his car in an intersection for an hour with its hazard lights blinking. Surveillance video allegedly shows him assuming a shooter's stance before firing his department-issued weapon at Borrelli's car, which was stopped at a red light.

Neither man had had any prior contact with Cronin, authorities said.

Borrelli and his friend Felice had been in good spirits after winning a recreational league hockey game; they were on their way to home to New Rochelle. Borrelli, who was not wounded, took the seriously injured Felice to a nearby hospital, saving his life.

In his statement on Tuesday, Felice referred to his friend's actions as "the save of a lifetime."

Felice still faces further surgeries, according to his attorney, Randolph M. McLaughlin, who has been involved with high-profile wrongful death lawsuits in Westchester County. Felice is asking for $60 million; Borrelli requests $30 million.

A spokesman for the New York City Law Department declined to comment on the claim. The NYPD press office telephone went unanswered during several attempts to reach a department representative Tuesday. Cronin's attorney did not respond a request for comment.