Hackensack settles lawsuit with family of man fatally shot by police in 2015

HACKENSACK — The city will pay $800,000 to settle a lawsuit accusing Hackensack police officers of illegally entering a second-floor apartment and using excessive force in the 2015 fatal shooting of a 24-year-old man during a welfare check.

The family of Elvin Diaz filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the Hackensack Police Department the next year after a grand jury declined to indict the two officers involved in the shooting, Sgt. Miguel Molina and Officer Ervin Hernandez.

The lawsuit said the two officers "illegally entered the home of Elvin Diaz for an improper purpose” without a warrant and then repeatedly shot Diaz “without sufficient cause” or justification.

On May 21, 2015, the officers went to the Temple Avenue home to check on Diaz, who had missed several meetings with a probation officer, authorities said. At the time, Diaz was serving probation on a charge stemming from an incident in which he reportedly assaulted police officers who suspected him of burglary.

The police officers denied they entered the home illegally, but the family said the officers could have waited at the front door and criticized them for instead entering the house uninvited.

Diaz backed into the kitchen, the lawsuit said, and the officers did not allow his brother, Kelvi Diaz, into the kitchen, forcing him into a side room.

Authorities said Elvin Diaz taunted the officers and wielded a meat cleaver during a confrontation in the kitchen before lunging at them with the knife.

"I know how this works," Diaz said to the officers, according to authorities. "Bullet to the head. Bullet to the head.”

The probation officer had told police that Diaz suffered from schizoaffective disorder, authorities said. But the suit said that despite Diaz's probation officer notifying the dispatcher of the diagnosis, the dispatcher did not notify Molina or Hernandez.

The officers fired 10 shots at Diaz and struck him nine times, killing him. Both officers knew Diaz — Hernandez is a distant relative, and Molina previously dated his mother, Cecilia Luna-Diaz.

Luna-Diaz was at home at the time of the shooting but did not witness it because police kept her away from the confrontation.

According to the suit, she asked to speak with her son, but the officers forced her into the side room with her other son, Kelvi.

“The entire tragedy occurred because Sgt. Molina was attempting to contact his former girlfriend” and “illegally entered the premises under the guise of a welfare check,” the lawsuit said.

Frederick Gerson, the attorney representing the Luna-Diaz family, did not respond to requests for comment.

In the settlement agreement, the city denies the allegations and does not admit any wrongdoing but says it is settling to resolve the dispute and “avoid continued and protracted litigation” and further costs.

"The city appreciates the efforts of the Luna-Diaz family to amicably resolve this matter by a negotiated settlement, and wishes them well,” Nick Bond, a city spokesman, said in a statement.

The settlement ends years of litigation between the Luna-Diaz family and the city. In the years since the shooting, Cecilia Luna-Diaz repeatedly called for justice for her son and held public memorials at her home on the anniversary of his death.

In 2020, at a Hackensack protest after the killing of George Floyd, she said she would continue seeking answers.

"I want people to continue seeking justice against police," she said, standing on the county courthouse steps. "For my son, I want them to do a full investigation and tell me what really happened."

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Hackensack NJ settles with family of man shot by police