Noel Polanco: Mother of man shot by NYPD calls for justice in son’s death
The mother of Noel Polanco, the young Army National Guardsman shot and killed by an NYPD officer last week, is calling for a full investigation into her son’s death.
Cecilia Reyes met this morning with Queens District Attorney Richard Brown, whose office is investigating the Oct. 4 incident, where an unarmed Polanco, 23, was fatally shot by Detective Hassan Hamdy during a traffic stop along Grand Central Parkway. Hamdy said he thought Polanco, who was sitting in the driver’s seat, was reaching for a weapon.
Stanford Rubenstein, an attorney for Reyes, said the grieving mother, who will attend her son’s funeral on Friday, wants Hamdy held accountable if an independent investigation determines that he committed a crime when he shot her son.
“She wants justice for her son,” Rubenstein told Metro. “That means if a criminal act was committed by this police officer, which caused a wrongful death, she wants him prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
When asked whether Reyes is considering filing a lawsuit against the city, Rubenstein responded, “She is emotionally distressed. At this point, any civil matters are furthest thing from mind.”
He added that the case will likely go to a grand jury, which Police Commissioner Ray Kelly publicly suggested earlier this week. Queens District Attorney Brown also reiterated that today.
“I told them that when we conclude our investigation I expect that we will present all of the facts to the grand jury,” Brown said in a statement.
