Companion of Kenny Lazo testifies in wrongful death trial, recalls telling son his father had become 'an angel' 

The companion of a Bay Shore man who died after an altercation with Suffolk County police tearfully recalled on the witness stand Monday how she was afraid to tell their 4-year-old son that his father was dead.

Jennifer Gonzalez, who has filed a federal wrongful death lawsuit against police for the death of Kenny Lazo Sr. said she brought her son to kindergarten shortly after Lazo was killed April 12, 2008.

When she arrived, the boy’s teacher was in tears, and most of the other children in the school already knew about the death, Gonzalez testified in federal court in Central Islip.

So she took Kenny Lazo Jr. home and told him his father had died in an “accident” and was now an “angel” who would look down on him and protect him.

The boy “screamed and he cried,” Gonzalez said. “He wanted his dad.”

As testimony in the trial entered its second week on Monday, the plaintiffs’ attorneys tried to paint a portrait of Lazo, 24, as a churchgoing, hardworking devoted father who did not deserve to die at the hands of police.

An attorney for the police named in the lawsuit, while expressing condolences to Gonzalez and other relatives, sought to show another side of Lazo: a man who allegedly was involved in drug dealing, drove a blue Cadillac, carried large amounts of cash and had domestic disputes with Gonzalez.

Lazo’s family is seeking $55 million in damages and $100 million in punitive damages in the lawsuit.

The struggle that led to Lazo's death began when police stopped him on an entrance ramp to the Southern State Parkway in Bay Shore for suspected drug dealing. Police say he fought back, tried to flee and grab an officer’s gun. They have testified that they beat him with a flashlight to subdue him.

His family contends police should have taken to him to a hospital. Instead, they took him to the Third Precinct in Bay Shore, where he was later found unresponsive in a cell. He was rushed to Southside Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

An autopsy conducted by the Suffolk County medical examiner determined that Lazo died from cardiac arrest “following exertion associated with physical altercation with multiple blunt impacts.” It also concluded that obesity was a factor in Lazo's death.

Police contend there is no way they could have known Lazo was going to suffer cardiac arrest after he sustained what a former Suffolk medical examiner testified were superficial abrasions and bruises.

One of the officers involved in the arrest, Joseph Link, now retired, testified Monday that he did not transport Lazo to the hospital because he considered the injuries “minor” and believed he was complying with departmental regulations.

Fred Brewington, an attorney representing the family, has called the case typical of the police brutality against minorities common at the time in Suffolk, with no serious internal investigation of what occurred. Lazo was Latino.

Gonzalez testified Monday that Lazo was a responsible father who took care of his son’s needs, even though the couple separated at one point.

They were young parents, Gonzalez said, she was 16 and Lazo was 18 when their son was born, struggling to adjust. Lazo cried tears of joy the day of the birth, she said.

Now 21, the son sat in the courtroom Monday next to Brewington. Gonzalez testified that he is now going into his senior year at college, transferring from Molloy University to SUNY Oswego, where he will continue playing varsity basketball.

She said he attended Molloy because he was afraid of going far from home, after what happened to his father.

The police, she said, “robbed him of having his dad.”

Marc Lindemann, an attorney representing the police, asked Gonzalez repeatedly about what kinds of jobs Lazo held — linking it to other questions about his luxury car and the $2,000 he was carrying when arrested.

He also asked about police reports he said Gonzalez made against Lazo regarding altercations they had and an order of protection she had once been seeking.

Gonzalez said she did not recall details, though she acknowledged they had their “ups and downs” as a young couple with a baby.

Later Monday, Brewington produced evidence showing that Link, had 21 civilian complaints filed against him during a 26-year career in the Suffolk County Police Department. Link acknowledged he underwent little or no retraining after the incidents.

A forensic economist, Michael Vernarelli of Rochester, also testified for the plaintiffs about Lazo’s lifetime earnings had he died a natural death.

Lindemann pointed out that Lazo earned $1,364 in 2007, raising questions about how he survived financially and was able to afford a Cadillac.

The trial continues Tuesday.