The mother of a Long Island kid shot at last year’s West Indian Day Parade is suing the NYPD, claiming the event’s notorious reputation should have led authorities to better prepare for potential violence.
Gail Mincy, of Nassau County, accused the city’s police department and government of failing to protect attendees at the Sept. 2, 2024 festivities in Brooklyn that was marred by gunfire, killing one person and injuring four more, including her child, according to the lawsuit filed last week.
Legal papers didn’t provide any details about the victim, who was only identified by initials, but authorities said last year a 16-year-old boy was injured in the shooting.
The city and its police force should have expected chaos during the raucous celebration of Caribbean culture and heritage because of past shootings and stabbings that have long plagued the parade and its predawn celebration, J’Ouvert, legal papers filed in Brooklyn state Supreme Court said.
The lawsuit states the young victim “suffered severe and permanent injuries” that required hospitalization as a result of the city’s alleged “negligence and carelessness.”
City officials were “negligent, careless and reckless in … failing to provide adequate and sufficient security to persons lawfully,” at or around the parade, the lawsuit alleges.
The mother and her son are seeking unspecified damages.
The parade’s penchant for violence dates back to at least 2003 and as recently as 2023 before last year’s shooting, according to the lawsuit.
A former aide to ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Carey Gabay, was fatally shot in the head after he was caught in gang crossfire in 2015. The following year, two St. John’s University students were both shot and killed.
Last year, a lone gunman opened fire along the parade route on Eastern Parkway, killing 25-year-old Denzel Chan and injuring four others. The youngest victim,16, was hit in the arm, police said at the time.
Authorities have yet to publicly announce an arrest.
The NYPD did not return an email seeking comment and the city law department declined comment while litigation is pending.
But the NYPD insisted last year it had a robust presence at the festivities, including having 300 handheld metal detectors for screening in anticipation of any possible violence.
Other security measures included cameras, hundreds of light towers and drones, which were used for only the second time last year, police said at the time.
Mayor Eric Adams also stood by authorities’ efforts at a press conference the following day, arguing it was “one nut” who shot five people at an otherwise safe parade and J’ouvert.
“We go out, our hearts goes out to the family members, because you come out to celebrate. You don’t want to come out and have that violence that we’ve seen in the past,” Adams said.
“That parade has always attracted a small element of people that wanted to commit violence. But we showed that if we come together, we can prevent that.”
Another defendant listed in the lawsuit, the West Indian American Day Carnival Association, did not return a message seeking comment.
The lawyer representing Mincy also did not return The Post’s phone call.
