A Venezuelan migrant who was punched and tased by police while holding his infant son inside a city-run shelter — an encounter that spread widely after police bodycam footage surfaced — has filed a federal lawsuit against New York City and the officers involved.
Yanny Cordero and his wife, Andrea Parra Mendoza, brought the case in Brooklyn federal court, alleging that the chaotic 2024 confrontation at a shelter on Archer Avenue in Queens led to false arrest, excessive force and an unlawful separation from their children, forcing the parents to desperately search for their three kids, including their 1-year-old boy.
The viral footage showing Cordero being beaten and tased while clutching the child drew a defense at the time from then-Mayor Eric Adams, who said the father was intoxicated and that the baby had been placed in danger.
The lawsuit claims six officers deployed Tasers against Cordero four times in total, including twice while the baby was still in his arms.
According to the complaint, the confrontation began after Cordero tried to bring dinner to his wife and children, only to receive conflicting instructions from security guards about where he was allowed to take the food.
While Cordero attempted to communicate through a translation app, one guard allegedly began “hurling racial epithets,” then “struck Mr. Cordero in the face and called the police,” the filing says.
Cordero was waiting in the lobby with his family when officers arrived, and the lawsuit alleges the situation escalated almost immediately.
“Before even speaking to Mr. Cordero,” one officer came up behind him and “attempted to pull his baby… out of his arms,” the suit states.
Not understanding their English commands, Cordero held tightly to his son and “repeated in Spanish that the baby was his,” according to the lawsuit, while the police declined to “make any attempts to interpret their instructions.”
That’s when Cordero claims cops shoved him against an elevator door and shot him with a taser, the filing alleges.
Cops allegedly then punched Cordero in the head and shoved his wife to the floor.
As shelter staff took the baby from his arms, his wife began screaming and was “physically restrained by unknown persons wearing fatigues, believed to be members of the National Guard,” as seen on the viral video.
More cops joined the fray — tossing Cordero into a table, punching his head, tasing him two more times as he lay pinned on the ground beneath four officers total, the suit claims.
Cops then took the family to the police precinct, putting the three kids in a separate room from their parents, who heard them “crying loudly in another room,” while officers repeatedly denied their pleas to see them, the suit says.
An order of protection was issued against the parents, and the kids were not reunited until three days later, and only on the condition that they immediately move to a different shelter, the suit claims.
Charges were completely dismissed in December 2024, and Cordero was fully acquitted at trial in July 2025, the suit says.
He claims he still suffers from concussive head injuries, and that his children remain traumatised and experience extreme separation anxiety as a result, his filing reads.
The city declined to comment on the litigation. NYPD officials and Cordero’s attorneys did not respond to requests for comment.
