The mother of a man shot dead by police in 2000 has been looking for justice for seven years. Today, she finally gets her day in court.
Opening arguments are set for this morning at Bronx Supreme Court in Juanita Young’s $30.5 million civil suit against the city regarding what she calls the “execution” of her unarmed 23-year-old son, Malcolm Ferguson, a paroled heroin dealer.
“It’s never been about the money,” Young, 52, told The Post in an exclusive interview. “For me, it was more about justice because no money can bring my son back.”
Officer Louis Rivera shot Ferguson in the left temple as the ex-con struggled with the plainclothes cop in a building in the Soundview section on March 1, 2000.
Ferguson did not have a weapon, but cops say he had six heroin bags on him, something the family disputes.
Ferguson family lawyer Seth Harris expects to call Rivera to the stand – under subpoena – as one of his first witnesses.
“It’s very important for us to learn, during the course of this trial, how in this day and age, an officer can draw his weapon during the course of a struggle when he believed the person had no weapon,” Harris said.
Rivera has been cleared of any criminal wrongdoing. Prosecutors have said a three-month probe confirmed his claim that he identified himself as a cop and begged Ferguson to “Stop resisting. Why are you resisting?”
The cop is still on the job with full-duty status, according to the NYPD. He was not available for comment, a department spokesperson said.
Ferguson’s death set off protests in the Bronx neighborhood, partly because it occurred three blocks from where unarmed African immigrant Amadou Diallo had been gunned down in a hail of 41 police bullets in February 1999 – and only days after a jury acquitted four white cops in that shooting.