A Venezuelan migrant beaten and tased by cops while holding his infant child in a city-run shelter — in a viral incident captured on police-worn bodycam footage — is now suing the city and the officers, according to a new federal lawsuit.
Yanny Cordero and his wife, Andrea Parra Mendoza, filed the suit in Brooklyn federal court claiming that the chaotic 2024 melee at a shelter on Archer Avenue in Queens resulted in a false arrest, excessive force and an unlawful family separation that left the family frantically searching for their three kids — including their one-year-old son.
Viral video of Cordero being beaten and tased by cops as he clutched his baby child two years ago was defended by then-Mayor Eric Adams, claiming the father was drunk and that the infant was in danger.
According to the lawsuit, six cops tased Cordero a total of four times, twice while he still clutched his baby boy.
Cordero was attempting to bring dinner to his wife and kids, with security guards issuing conflicting orders about where he could bring his food, according to the suit.
As Cordero struggled to communicate with a translation app, one guard began “hurling racial epithets” and “struck Mr. Cordero in the face and called the police,” the court filing claims.
Cordero was waiting with his family in the lobby when police arrived, and claimed the situation immediately escalated, according to the suit.
“Before even speaking to Mr. Cordero,” one of the cops approached him from behind “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.
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