FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Eric Sanders, Esq., of The Sanders Firm, P.C., announces Nia Jasmine Reynolds has filed a second amended federal civil rights lawsuit against the City of New York and drunk driving NYPD Police Officer Rohan L. Shaw citing new evidence proving several on-duty NYPD police officers covered up Shaw’s drunk driving crimes
NEW YORK, June 8, 2023 – Today, Ms. Reynolds filed a second amended federal civil rights lawsuit outlining several institutional failures within the City of New York, alleging that although it received repeated reports of motor vehicle accidents and complaints of ongoing speeding along Foster Avenue, an area comprised of ninety-five (95) percent Black residents that it could have implemented roadway design changes in the form of traffic calming measures to deter speeding and serious accidents. According to the complaint, despite community concerns supported with a comprehensive 2014 study, the City of New York failed to implement safety diet treatments rendering the corridor unsafe for pedestrian, vehicular and other traffic.
Ms. Reynolds alleges that the City of New York’s failure to implement safety diet treatments along Foster Avenue enabled off-duty NYPD Police Officer Rohan L. Shaw to operate his 2019 Nissan Sedan in an intoxicated condition after leaving the Brooklyn Prime Inc. dba Brooklyn Prime Bar and Restaurant located at 4315 Farragut Road Brooklyn, N.Y. 11203, traveling in excess of seventy (70) miles per hour on a public street, then colliding with a 2016 Mazda Sedan operated by Mr. Kwesi Vidale at the corner of East 55th Street killing decedent Ms. Joanna Dixon and seriously injuring her. The motor vehicle accident was initially handled by NYPD personnel assigned to the 63rd Precinct, then handed off to the NYPD Highway Collision Investigation Squad.
According to the complaint, Ms. Reynolds alleges that NYPD personnel assigned to the 63rd Precinct and the Brooklyn South Command, Defendants’ ROBERT J. DANTONE; TERRENCE E. CREIGHTON; MICHAEL H. SOLOWITZ; CHRISTOPHER J. MULLER; ROBERT GRELLA; MAYER SCHWARTZ; PETER D. WOODBURN and SEAN F. KELLEHER each violated section § 195.00 (2), of the New York Penal Law, Official Misconduct, in that they intentionally failed to activate their body worn camera while responding to a crime in progress with a fatality, failing to conduct a proper investigation including monitoring Shaw while the NYPD Highway Collision Investigation Squad performs its investigation to assist him with trying to avoid criminal and civil responsibility.
Ultimately, Ms. Reynolds alleges that these officers succeeded, as Shaw was never prosecuted for violating several sections of the New York State Penal, Vehicle and Traffic Law for the protection of public safety, including but not limited to Aggravated Vehicular Assault, Penal Law § 120.04(a), Reckless Endangerment in the First Degree, Penal Law § 120.25, Driving While Intoxicated, Vehicle and Traffic Law § 1192.3, Speeding in Excess of fifty-five (55) miles per hour, Vehicle and Traffic Law § 1180(b) and Reckless Driving, Vehicle and Traffic Law § 1212, according to the complaint.
“Now that we know the dirty little secret of the responding police officers intentionally tampering with evidence to protect retired Police Officer Shaw from criminal prosecution, what is the mayor and police commissioner going to do about holding these officers’ accountable?” Eric Sanders asked.
“The officers should have been criminally prosecuted and terminated. It’s disgraceful.”
The second amended federal civil rights lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York: Nia Jasmine Reynolds v. City of New York, et al. Docket No.: 21 cv 6111.
ABOUT THE SANDERS FIRM, P.C.
The Sanders Firm, P.C. offers those in the New York City area legal services related and connected to civil rights, civil service rights, criminal law and discrimination. We firmly believe in everyone’s individual rights that are described and guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States of America. We understand that our freedoms and liberties are sacrosanct and that they have been won in many and various hard-fought battles. We are committed in every way to protecting your civil rights.
CONTACT
Eric Sanders, Esq.
President and Owner, The Sanders Firm, P.C.
Business Phone: 212-652-2782
###
Litigation Update: This is an update to our June 8, 2023 press release regarding Nia Jasmine Reynolds v. City of New York, et al. and the related allegations arising from the December 8, 2019 fatal crash. At that time, the press release stated that Reynolds had filed a second amended federal civil rights lawsuit alleging institutional failures and misconduct connected to the crash involving Rohan L. Shaw.
The current procedural development is this: on March 30, 2026, Kings County Supreme Court denied Rohan L. Shaw’s motion to dismiss on statute-of-limitations grounds in Nia Jasmine Reynolds v. Brooklyn Prime Inc., et al., Index No. 531054/2024. The court held that Reynolds’s recommenced state-law claims against Shaw are timely under the combined operation of 28 U.S.C. § 1367(d) and CPLR 205(a).
The court further held that the prior federal action was timely when filed, that the federal court’s dismissal of the state claims was a non-merits jurisdictional disposition, and that Reynolds’s November 17, 2024 state-court filing fell within the applicable savings period. On that basis, the court rejected Shaw’s attempt to end the case on a procedural limitations defense.
As a result, the action will now proceed on the merits of Reynolds’s negligence and negligence per se claims against Shaw. That is the significance of this ruling: Shaw did not obtain dismissal, and the court has kept the claims alive for merits litigation in Kings County Supreme Court.
This update is limited to what the March 30, 2026 order actually decides. The order is a procedural ruling on timeliness. It does not adjudicate the truth of the earlier allegations described in the June 8, 2023 press release. What it does establish is that Reynolds’s claims against Shaw survive and will move forward.
Read the Decision and Order