NYPD cop crossed line with fifth bullet shot at mentally deranged man: lawyer 

A jury will decide whether the fifth bullet fired by NYPD sergeant was justified.

As Mauricio Jaquez lay dying from a spray of NYPD officers' bullets, a callous cop unnecessarily fired another round into the back of his head — showing "reckless disregard" for Jaquez' constitutional rights, a lawyer for the family said Monday in Manhattan federal court.

NYPD Sergeant William Flores is now facing a civil jury trial over Jaquez' death. The family accuses Flores of using excessive force against the Bronx father-of-three during an April 12, 2009 standoff in their apartment.


Unlike other cases alleging excessive use of force, the jury will not weigh whether Jaquez's death at the hands of police was justified.

In fact, Manhattan Federal Court Judge Katherine Forrest decided last year the first four bullets of five that struck Jaquez, one of which killed him, were justified, given his threatening behavior.

A jury will now decide whether the fifth bullet — fired by Flores after Jaquez had already suffered the fatal wound, and was possibly on the ground — was justified.

Jaquez family lawyer Zachary Margulis-Ohnuma said he was bleeding out and immobilized during the fifth shot. Even if Jaquez was still holding a knife, Margulis-Ohnuma argued, his hands were under him.

"Mauricio Jaquez did not pose a threat to Sergeant Flores," Margulis-Ohnuma said, calling the fifth shot "a violation of the constitution" that shows "reckless disregard" for civil rights.

"He was seeing things," Margulis-Ohnuma said, explaining why Jaquez, 35, had a knife.

"He was fighting the demons off with it. He was not fighting or threatening his family in any way."

"What he was doing was protecting them from his own delusions," he said.

Jaquez's wife, Margulis-Ohnuma said, even begged cops not to hurt her husband, who had a history of mental illness, saying "Please don't hurt my husband. He needs a doctor - not a police officer."

Flores' lawyer, Shira Siskind, countered during her opening statement that Jaquez's sweaty, crazed demeanor suggested he was drugged up — not emotionally disturbed.

Despite being Tasered, hit with rubber bullets, and shot at, Jaquez kept charging at the cops with the blade — who truly felt their lives were in danger, she claimed.

When Flores pulled the trigger and fired the fifth bullet, "he had no idea" whether Jaquez was shot, she said.