The family of a fugitive who was shot and killed after leading cops on a wild three-mile chase through The Bronx — at the end of which he tried to run the officers over — is suing the city for causing his “wrongful death.”
The family of Orlando Santos says in the Bronx suit that the NYPD used “excessive and unreasonable force” to nab him after they started following him “without justification or reasonable suspicion.”
The NYPD said it had good reason to fire 19 bullets at the unarmed 28-year-old after he’d led cops on a high-speed chase, tried to knock other cars out of the way on the Major Deegan with his Ford Expedition and tried to run over officers who were trying to apprehend him on foot.
The wild scene unfolded at around midnight on March 26, 2011, when cops said they spotted Santos driving with a busted headlight.
When he saw them following him into a parking lot near 163rd Street, police said, he sped north.
“I’m not going back to jail!” his passenger quoted Santos as saying.
The ex-con was wanted for skipping a court appearance — and was awaiting trial on three drug busts that could have landed him 25 years in jail.
During the chase, he caused a three-car pile-up that injured a pregnant woman, and was using his SUV to try to knock cars out of the way when he got caught up in heavy traffic, cops said.
He got trapped against a Housing Department garbage truck at the Alexander Avenue overpass, and cops said he tried to reverse the SUV into them as they approached the car, leaving them no choice but to fire.
“This was clearly an avoidable tragedy caused by overly aggressive, trigger-happy NYPD police officers,” said the family’s lawyer, Gary Certain.