A longtime NYPD officer who was recently fired from his job because he shot his service gun during an off-duty incident where he said he was being chased by another driver has filed a lawsuit against the department seeking to get his job back.
Kevin Marcial was fired by Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch in February after an NYPD administrative judge recommended his dismissal.
The judge’s decision followed an administrative hearing where Marcial testified and presented evidence about why he fired his gun during the incident.
Marcial sued in Manhattan Supreme Court earlier this month, claiming his penalty was unjustly harsh and that he should have only been docked 30 vacation days and placed on probation because no one was injured. He had served as an officer for nearly 20 years, according to the lawsuit.
The suit names the NYPD, police commissioner and city as defendants. The NYPD and the city’s Law Department declined to comment. Marcial’s attorney did not immediately comment.
The incident that led to Marcial’s firing happened in East New York on April 21, 2022, according to documents cited in the lawsuit.
That evening, Marcial drove from Queens to meet a friend in East New York, and later dropped her off at her car in the neighborhood, he testified at his departmental hearing, according to a transcript.
Soon after, a man Marcial believed to be the woman’s estranged husband began following him in a small black car as he drove in the neighborhood, the former officer testified.
Marcial said he sped up to get away from the other driver, but the man continued to tail him. At one point during the chase, Marcial said the car rear-ended him as he tried to get away, according to the transcript.
Marcial testified that after the collision, he drew his NYPD service weapon, held it in his hand outside the driver’s side window, aimed it toward the sky and fired a single shot.
“I let go a round out the window,” he testified, according to the transcript.
Marcial said he fired the shot to alert officers at a nearby police precinct he drove by during the chase. He did not call 911 during the pursuit, according to the documents.
Following the incident, the lawsuit states, Marcial called his union delegate, spoke to an attorney and reported it at a local precinct about three hours after it happened.
The day after the incident, Marcial was suspended from the NYPD without pay for one month, and he was later placed on modified duty.
He was not criminally charged, but he pleaded guilty to NYPD disciplinary charges and sought not to be fired at what’s known as a mitigation hearing.
In addition to getting his job back, Marcial’s lawsuit seeks any legal fees he ends up incurring in the case.
