A Venezuelan migrant family is suing New York City and several NYPD officers, alleging excessive force and unlawful family separation during a 2024 incident at a city-run shelter. The confrontation, captured on police bodycam footage, involved the father being beaten and tased while holding their infant son.
Yanny Cordero and his wife, Andrea Parra Mendoza, filed the federal lawsuit in Brooklyn, detailing events that occurred at a shelter on Archer Avenue in Queens. The suit claims that six officers tased Cordero a total of four times, with two instances occurring while he was still holding his one-year-old child.
According to the lawsuit, the incident began when Cordero attempted to bring dinner to his wife and children. Shelter security guards reportedly gave conflicting instructions regarding where he could deliver the food. The suit alleges that a guard then used racial epithets and struck Cordero before calling the police.
Upon the officers' arrival, the situation escalated, the lawsuit states. It claims that an officer approached Cordero from behind and attempted to take the baby from his arms without speaking to him first. Cordero, unable to understand the English commands, held onto his son and explained in Spanish that the child was his, while the officers allegedly made no attempt to interpret their instructions.
Cordero alleges that officers then pushed him against an elevator door and tased him. As shelter staff took the baby, Cordero’s wife began to scream and was allegedly restrained by individuals in fatigues, identified as potentially members of the National Guard. More officers then became involved, with Cordero reportedly being thrown into a table, punched, and tased two more times while pinned down by four officers.
The family was taken to a police precinct, where their three children were placed in a separate room from their parents. The suit claims the parents heard their children crying and were denied requests to see them. An order of protection was issued against the parents, and the children were not reunited with them until three days later, contingent on the family moving to a different shelter.
Charges against Cordero were dismissed in December 2024, and he was acquitted at trial in July 2025. The lawsuit states Cordero continues to suffer from head injuries, and his children remain traumatized with separation anxiety as a result of the incident.
New York City has declined to comment on the litigation. Representatives for the NYPD and Cordero's attorneys did not immediately respond to requests for comment.