Family Of Teen Shot In Bed-Stuy Park Sues The City: Report

BED-STUY, BROOKLYN — The family of a teenager hit by a stray bullet in St. Andrew's Playground last year have sued the city, claiming officials should have done more to keep the girl safe, according to the Daily News.

The suit — filed against the NYPD and the Parks Department by the girl's mother Rabnette Flowers — claims cops should have been stationed at the park at the time of the July 2019 shooting given that three other people had been shot there just two months earlier.

Extra police sent to St. Andrew's after that shooting were short-lived and weren't enough to curb the violence, Flowers' lawyer Michael Chessa told the News.

“You look at this and people say, ‘How are you going to blame the city?’ Chessa said. “But the shooting happened in a park where [two months] earlier there was another shooting. The city was on notice that the people of that community were not safe.

If this happened in Park Slope, you’re going to have cops standing there the next three years,” Chessa added. “But they (relaxed) on keeping this community safe.”

Flowers' daughter, then 13 years old, was shot in the shoulder as she tried to run away from a gunman who opened fire near Kingston Avenue and Herkimer Street on July 24, 2019. The now-14-year-old has since recovered, but spent time in intensive care after the bullet pierced her lung, according to the News.

Read the full story here.