Press Release
DEFENDANT SENTENCED TO 16 YEARS IN PRISON IN 2018 MEMORIAL DAY SHOOTING DEATH OF 27-YEAR-OLD MAN
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Denzel Floyd, 24, has been sentenced by the Court to 16 years in prison after pleading guilty to manslaughter for the May 2018 shooting death of a 27-year-old man in Ozone Park.
District Attorney Katz said, “The sentencing of this defendant brings resolution to this case but cannot make up for the loss of life or injury caused by his actions on Memorial Day 2018. We will continue to do all we can to eradicate the flow of firearms and hold accountable those who use them to wound and kill.”
Floyd, of 104th Street in Ozone Park, pleaded guilty in October 2021 to one count of manslaughter in the first degree before Queens Supreme Court Justice Michael Aloise. Yesterday, Justice Aloise sentenced the defendant to 16 years in prison, to be followed by five years’ post release supervision.
According to Court records, at approximately 11 a.m. on May 28, 2018, the defendant was in a residence on 104th Street in Ozone Park with three other men. The defendant used a firearm to shoot the three victims multiple times. The victim, Jonathan Polanco, 27, was struck once in the neck and died from the fatal shot. The two other men were also shot, one in the torso and the other was shot in the hand. Both men survived their injuries.
The DA said Floyd was involved in a high-speed car crash near the intersection of 111th Street and 107th Avenue while fleeing from the shooting. Floyd ran a red light while driving a 2010 black Mazda and struck another vehicle. The defendant then abandoned the Mazda and fled on foot taking a pink, .380 caliber semi-automatic pistol from the car. Police later retrieved the loaded gun after the defendant disposed of it near a house on 110th Street.
Senior Assistant District Attorney Courtney Charles, of the DA’s Homicide Bureau, prosecuted the case with the assistance of Assistant District Attorney Timothy Regan under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Robert Ciesla, Section Chief, Assistant District Attorneys Peter McCormack III and John Kosinski, Senior Deputy Bureau Chiefs, Karen Ross, Deputy Bureau Chief, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Daniel A. Saunders.