The family of a 54-year-old man who died during a confrontation with NYPD officers that began over an open can of beer has filed a federal lawsuit, claiming police used excessive deadly force during what should have been a routine enforcement action.
Shelton Ennis died on June 26, 2025, after a probationary NYPD officer tackled him from behind near Riverside Park in Upper Manhattan, according to court documents and the state Attorney General’s Office.
The lawsuit, filed Sept. 22 on behalf of Ennis’s brother, Aaron Ennis, alleges civil rights violations including excessive force, negligence, and unlawful stop.
“He lived in the area. He was enjoying a pleasant night,” said Michael Pecorella, the family’s attorney, to The New York Post. “There’s no reason why it should have had to end this way.”
Body-worn camera footage showed Officers Karl Yelenic and Marc Leandre approaching Ennis around 9:52 p.m. near Riverside Drive and West 136th Street after they observed him discard an open beer can he had been holding.
When Officer Leandre asked why he threw it away, Ennis responded that it was empty. Leandre then asked for identification. Ennis, who had identification at his apartment nearby, offered to retrieve it but was told officers would instead take him to the precinct to verify his identity.
“I’m not bothering nobody,” Ennis told the officers, according to footage cited in the lawsuit. “I just came out the house for a little second to relax before I go to work tomorrow.”
Ennis provided a false name to the officers, according to the attorney general’s report, and was on parole at the time – factors that may have contributed to his flight. He ran between the two officers moments later.
Officer Yelenic, who had joined the NYPD less than a year before, pursued Ennis and wrapped his arms around him from behind, bringing both of them to the ground. Ennis fell face-first onto the pavement.
After the fall, footage showed Ennis lying unconscious face-down. The lawsuit alleges that rather than rendering immediate medical aid, Officer Leandre handcuffed the unresponsive man behind his back before calling an ambulance.
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Ennis was transported to Mount Sinai Morningside Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 10:49 p.m..
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined the cause of death was hemopericardium – blood accumulating around the heart – due to a laceration of the right ventricular wall caused by blunt impact to the chest when Ennis struck the ground. The manner of death was ruled a homicide.
Officers recovered a knife at the scene, according to the attorney general’s report.
The New York Attorney General’s Office of Special Investigation announced in September 2026 that it would not seek criminal charges against Yelenic, concluding that a prosecutor could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the officer committed a crime.
Under New York law, officers are authorized to use physical force reasonably necessary to arrest someone. Because Ennis had committed an open container violation, provided a false name, and fled from officers attempting a lawful arrest, the OSI found the pursuit and apprehension were reasonable.
The report stated there was “no evidence that the officer intended to cause injury, nor evidence of criminal recklessness or criminal negligence under the law”.
The lawsuit, however, argues that the officers violated Ennis’s constitutional rights. It notes that at the time of the incident, Yelenic was a probationary officer who had been with the department for less than a year.
The NYPD’s Force Investigation Division is still reviewing the case, and the department would not say whether the officers remain employed.
The family is seeking unspecified damages. The case is being handled by the law firm Fredson Statmore Bitterman.
