Family Of Crown Heights Man Dragged, Killed By Police Van Seek Justice

CROWN HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN — The family of a man stuck and killed by a speeding NYPD van last April are demanding that the officers driving the van be fired, and that the tape of the incident be released.

Ronald Anthony Smith was struck and killed on April 7, and was reportedly dragged for 35 feet along Eastern Parkway in Crown Heights by officers driving a NYPD van.

“He was the nicest brother,” Smith’s sister Julie Floyd told Patch, sharing that he was a beloved uncle to her kids and that he loved animals, dancing and helping those in need.

“He would work in soup kitchens, pantries and even handed out pamphlets and stuff, volunteered when elections were going on and he didn't even vote,” she said.

She added that her brother, both of whom were adopted but were born into the same family, was only staying in Brooklyn temporarily after facing some housing issues, and was about to move into her home in Queens.

“You know, he was just a caring, giving guy. And he didn't deserve what happened to him, he was just minding his business.”

Floyd, told Patch that the video, parts of which she viewed with the state Attorney General’s office, shows the officers seemingly indifferent to the fact that they struck her beloved brother.

“Firstly,” Floyd said, describing the video,” they drag him off the roof and drop them on the street like a sack of garbage. And the first thing they did was pick up their cell phones.”

“Apparently, they were giving him CPR with one hand while they were on a cell phone, which was in the other hand,” Floyd said.

“So, you know, no medical attention, no attention to anything. After you meet this man who didn't even try to save him in any way, shape, or form.”

Since viewing the tape, the family says the State Attorney General’s office, which announced a probe right after the death, has gone silent.

A member of the Justice Committee, a group that advocates for victims of police violence and is working with the family, says that silence is strange.

In other cases, a rep from the Justice Committee said, like Delrawn Small and Saheed Vassel, the office was able to share more information.

The AG’s office told Patch that the investigation is ongoing.

Council Member Crystal Hudson, who helped connect the Smith family to the Justice Committee, said that the family first reached out after Smith’s death, “requesting help navigating the bureaucratic systems that had prevented them, up until that point, from being able to get access to his body,” Hudson said in an email to Patch.

“My office and I will continue to stand in solidarity with Mr. Smith's family and provide them the care and compassion all families deserve as they seek justice," Hudson said.

Despite some setbacks, Floyd is seeking justice through other means.

Her lawyer has sued the NYPD for the video of the death of her brother after the department denied their Freedom of Information Act request for the footage, she said.

And a meeting on Monday with the Civilian Complaint Review Board has her feeling hopeful that her family might actually find justice.

The CCRB, Floyd said, took the time to explain the process to her and informed her of what to expect moving forward.

“It went way better than when I went to the AG’s office, the CCRB, they were a little more sympathetic,” Floyd said.

“They were at least listening to me.”

Floyd wants, at minimum, the officers, identified by the family as Orkhan Mamedov and Evan Siegel, to be fired. But if you ask, she’ll tell you what she really wants.

“I’m looking for jail time,” Floyd told Patch.

"I want them to know that he was a person wasn't no homeless bum they just ran over in the street," she said. "He has a mother who's still alive. He has sisters. He has brothers, his nieces and nephews. And we all loved him."