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The family of a man who died during an NYPD scuffle that started over an open can of beer claims the cops used excessive deadly force, according to a new lawsuit.
Shelton Ennis — a 54-year-old reputed ex-con on parole — died June 26, 2025, after NYPD probationary Officer Karl Yelenic pursued and tackled him during what started as a routine front-up in Upper Manhattan, court documents said.
“[Ennis] lived in the area. He was enjoying a pleasant night,” said the family’s lawyer, Michael Pecorella, to The Post. “There’s no reason why it should have had to end this way.”
Body-worn camera footage showed Yelenic and Officer Marc Leandre exit their vehicle near Riverside Drive and West 136th Street and approach Ennis, who was leaning against a stone wall around Riverside Park holding a black plastic bag.
Ennis — who was once charged with attempted murder and ended up doing nearly 26 years behind bars over vicious drug raps, only to seemingly be on his way to turning his life around, according to the New York Daily News — had apparently just tossed a beer can.
“Why you throw it away?” Leandre said.
Ennis responded that it was empty, but Leandre continued to ask four more times why he threw it away, video showed.
Leandre then asked Ennis for his identification, and the man said he had it at his apartment nearby, according to the footage.
“I’m not bothering nobody,” Ennis told the cops.
“I just came out the house for a little second to relax before I go to work tomorrow,’’ said the man, who coworkers told the News was a “residents’ assistant’’ at the Skyline Hotel in Hell’s Kitchen.
When officers asked for his name, Ennis falsely told them Cedrick Ennis, according to the attorney general’s report on the man’s death.
The video showed Ennis repeatedly tell the officers that he would show them his identification if they took him to his apartment.
“We don’t do that. … The thing we do, we take people back to the precinct, and you can call someone. … Drinking in public is a violation,” Leandre said in the body-camera footage.
Ennis replied, “Call your sergeant.
“I’m not going nowhere.”
A few moments later, the footage showed Ennis start to run between the two officers.
Yelenic pursued Ennis and tackled him to the ground from behind, according to the video.
After Yelenic stood back up, footage from his body camera showed Ennis lying unconscious face-down on the ground.
“Rather than render emergency and immediate aid, defendant officer Leandre immediately handcuffed Shelton behind his back,” the lawsuit said.
After handcuffing the unconscious Ennis, the officers called an ambulance to take him to the hospital.
Medical records said Ennis lost his pulse while in the ambulance. He was pronounced dead after arriving at Mount Sinai Morningside Hospital.
The medical examiner determined the cause of death to be hemopericardium due to blunt impact to the chest.
The ME ruled the death a homicide, although that does not indicate a crime has occurred. Acts of self-defense and the lawful use of force by police are two examples of homicide, or a death involving another person, that would not necessarily result in criminal liability.
The state attorney general’s office, which must conduct probes into every death involving some kind of police action, interviewed Yelenic, who said his intent was to apprehend and handcuff Ennis, not to tackle him and make him fall.
At the time of the incident, Yelenic was a probationary officer who joined the NYPD less than a year before. The NYPD’s Force Investigation Division, which probes cop-involved incidents, is still looking into the case, officials said.
The Police Department would not say whether the officers are still on the job.
The AG’s investigatory unit has already decided not to seek charges against anyone, concluding that there was not significant evidence to prove that Yelenic’s force was unlawful.
“There is no evidence that the officer intended to cause injury, nor evidence of criminal recklessness or criminal negligence under the law,” the report stated.
But in the lawsuit filed by Ennis’s family Sept. 22, the dead man’s brother, Aaron Ennis, who is being repped by the law firm Fredson Statmore Bitterman, alleges numerous civil-rights violations by the city and the two involved officers, including over the use of force, reputed negligence and alleged unlawful stop.
“We’re hoping that you know the city does the right thing for this family,” Pecorella said.