The surge in shootings since a federal judge ruled against stop-and-frisk is more than a statistic to those affected by the gunfire.
Jorge Alvarez, 44, was shot in both legs when he was caught in the crossfire between two drug gangs on Aug. 13, one day after Manhattan federal Judge Shira Scheindlin ruled the NYPD’s use of stop-and-frisk unconstitutional.
Alvarez said he was walking home in Harlem with his wife after an evening of shopping when a hail of gunfire exploded. He tried to run as the bullets started flying but couldn’t move fast enough.
Cops later told him at least three weapons were fired during the barrage of shots, he said.
He was among the 164 New Yorkers struck by bullets during the 28-day period that ended Sept. 8, marking a 9-plus percent increase over the same period in 2012. Shooting incidents also spiked nearly 13 percent, to 140, with police sources noting that “perps are not afraid to carry a gun” due to the reforms Scheindlin has ordered.
“They have to get illegal guns off the street. The only way to do that, besides stopping the sale of guns, is stop-and-frisk,” Alvarez said through a Spanish interpreter.
“If they can’t check people, they’re not going to find guns.”
More than a month after the shooting, Alvarez still suffers pain in both knees and has no feeling in his right thigh. He’s also been unable to return to his job at a New Jersey liquor store.
A more tragic supporter of stop- and-frisk is grieving Brooklyn mom Tonia Garcia, whose son, Dominique, 22, was killed during a traffic dispute in their East New York neighborhood early Aug. 18.
According to cops, Dominique was in the passenger seat of a car whose driver honked at a group of men blocking an intersection.
A heated dispute erupted, during which one of the men pulled out a pistol and shot Dominique in the head. He was rushed to Brookdale Hospital, where he died.
“Nobody will ever understand what I’ve been through,” his mom lamented. “Stop-and-frisk is the best policy — it caught more criminals. Now, everyone is running rampant.”
Asked what she would say to Scheindlin if given the chance, Garcia said, “Come live in it for a little while, move in the neighborhood for a little while.
“Somebody gets killed over here once a week, twice a week,” she said, adding, “Stop-and-frisk keeps people safer.
“I don’t think they should stop it The amount of crimes being committed would be way less on the streets.”
Additional reporting by Jamie Schram