A Staten Island man claims the NYPD crushed his dream of becoming a cop by illegally banning him from joining the force because he has multiple sclerosis.
Randy Umanzor, 25, is now suing the NYPD, saying he is symptom-free and able to perform the duties of any other police officer — and his doctor backs up his claim.
His $3 million Manhattan federal court suit says the NYPD violated federal disability laws by denying him a job due to his condition.
“When I was disqualified from the position I felt like my whole life came crashing on me,” Umanzor told The Post. “I feel betrayed by the city for not letting me into the cadet program. This was my dream. It’s devastating. I feel as though they discriminated against me.”
Umanzor said he was diagnosed with the disease in 2013 and hasn’t had any symptoms since early 2014. He claims his doctor told him he will live a healthy life and won’t become disabled or paralyzed.
“There’s no reason in my mind why I shouldn’t be in there right now,” Umanzor said. “I feel perfectly fine. I can go out there and do anything that a police officer can.”
But when Umanzor applied to the NYPD cadet program in April 2014, he was given a medical disqualification that listed “multiple sclerosis” as the reason for his rejection, according to his suit, which he filed in December.
City lawyers say an NYPD doctor found Umanzor to be “unfit to perform the essential duties of a police officer” because too little time had passed since 2013 to be sure he is medically stable, court papers state.
The National Multiple Sclerosis Society describes MS as an unpredictable disease of the central nervous system that disrupts the flow of information between the brain and body.
People with relapsing-remitting MS can have periodic attacks in which their neurological functions break down.
“The basis for the doctor’s decision to disqualify is entirely based on the idea that [he could] present a potential threat to himself or others,” city lawyer Joseph Lockinger said in court Friday. “Police officers [are required to] carry and use deadly weapons, as well as possess concentration, split-second good judgment and self-control.”
But Umanzor says he is fine and works out several times a week at the Planet Fitness gym near his Staten Island home, running on the treadmill and doing bench presses.
“The city has had a lot of opportunity to right this wrong,” said Umanzor’s lawyer, Walker Harman. “And yet there has been no offer whatsoever to try to work this out.”