NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — A Long Island man who an off-duty NYPD officer shot in the face outside the cop’s house is suing the city for $35 million.
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Rinaldo Laviolette, 27, said he accidentally took someone else's wallet at a West Babylon party on March 5 and came back to return it but accidentally came to the wrong house, according to legal documents obtained by the New York Post.
Laviolette was knocking on the door around 3:30 a.m. when NYPD Detective Douglas DeOtto, a 42-year-old who works in the 115th precinct in Jackson Heights, shot him in the face.
He needed a titanium plate in his head, two surgeries, he lost his eye and suffered brain damage.
His lawyers say he’s been unable to work since the incident and that he’s facing “astronomical” medical bills — though they did not specify the exact amount.
DeOtto said he thought Laviolette was trying to break in, claiming he had been knocking “for several minutes, at least five minutes, and when that didn’t work he began trying to get into the door holding the handle, exerting force.”
The Manhattan Federal Court lawsuit is seeking $25 million in damages and $10 million in punitive damages.
DeOtto was named in a 2012 lawsuit against the NYPD for assaulting a man police suspected was responsible for a cell phone robbery, according to the Legal Aid Society’s CAPStat project which tracks police misconduct and lawsuits.
The city settled the lawsuit for $26,000, and all charges against the plaintiff were dismissed.
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