The parents of a bicyclist who was killed by a truck in Brooklyn have gone to court to force the NYPD to turn over documents relating to their son’s death.
Mathieu Lefevre was riding his bike at the intersection of Morgan and Meserole streets in Williamsburg when he was hit by a flatbed truck.
The driver left the scene and wasn’t identified until days later, Lefevre’s family said. But no charges were filed after he told police he hadn’t known he’d hit anybody.
That and discrepancies with the NYPD’s initial comments to the press about the case — that the artist had run a red light, and was sideswiped by the truck, both of which were later determined not to be true — led the family to demand to see the police files.
The NYPD refused, saying the investigation was still open and it didn’t want to taint a jury in possible criminal proceedings. In papers filed last week in Manhattan Supreme Court, Lefevre’s parents, Erika and Alain Lefevre, say neither argument makes sense.
Their filing notes that the agency can only withhold information that would interfere with an ongoing investigation, and “the NYPD does not suggest even the possibility of such interference.”
And since cops already announced there will be no criminal charges related to the death, “There is no right to a trial by jury, and therefore no chance of a tainted adjudication,” the filing says.
The NYPD did not return an e-mail for comment. A spokeswoman said the city Law Department had not yet been served with the filing.