By Michele Evans / NYweeklyRecord.com / Date: 10/9/2026
Category: NYPD Accountability / Mental Health / Civil Rights
NEW YORK CITY, NY –
A New York City police officer accused of using excessive force in the fatal shooting of 19-year-old Win Rozario retired with a disability pension before his disciplinary case could reach trial, after the NYPD failed to alert the civilian agency prosecuting the case.
Former Officer Salvatore Alongi retired in May. The Civilian Complaint Review Board had substantiated misconduct allegations against Alongi and Officer Matthew Cianfrocco stemming from the March 27, 2024 shooting inside Rozario’s Ozone Park home. The board’s lawyers were preparing to prosecute the most serious charges in an NYPD disciplinary trial.
That trial will not happen for Alongi. The department acknowledged that it did not notify the CCRB about his retirement application, an omission Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch attributed to human error. The CCRB’s agreement with the NYPD requires notice when an officer facing discipline seeks to leave the department.
The failure matters because retirement ends the NYPD’s disciplinary jurisdiction over a former officer. It also strips Rozario’s family of a public proceeding that could have tested the evidence, produced formal findings and ended in a penalty, including termination.
Rozario called 911 while experiencing a mental health crisis. Body-camera footage showed the encounter escalating inside his family’s home before officers fired. The state attorney general later declined to bring criminal charges, concluding prosecutors could not disprove legal justification beyond a reasonable doubt. That criminal decision was separate from the CCRB case, which uses a lower burden of proof and asks whether officers violated department rules.
The attorney general’s report said the CCRB found that four of five gunshots violated NYPD guidelines and recommended disciplinary charges. Alongi’s retirement closed his case before those allegations could be resolved at trial. Cianfrocco remains employed and can still face departmental proceedings.
The department has not publicly explained why the required notice failed, who was responsible for tracking the pending case or what safeguards have been installed to prevent another officer from leaving before civilian prosecutors can act.
Rozario’s family and the Justice Committee called the retirement another denial of accountability. Their concern reaches beyond one officer. The breakdown exposed how a single administrative failure can nullify years of civilian oversight work in a fatal police encounter.
The central question now belongs to City Hall and the NYPD: whether the department will treat the lapse as an isolated mistake or publish a corrective process with deadlines, named responsibility and an audit trail. Without that, the city’s disciplinary system remains vulnerable at the exact moment accountability is supposed to begin.
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