A New York appeals court has refused to overturn the conviction of a former NYPD officer who pepper-sprayed a handcuffed man three times while the man lay face down beneath him, ruling that prosecutors proved there was no reasonable basis for the force.

The Appellate Division, First Department, unanimously affirmed Phillip Fioranelli's convictions for third-degree assault and official misconduct on Thursday, November 12. The court also left intact his sentence of two years of probation, according to the decision, People v Fioranelli, 2026 NY Slip Op 06582.

Source: People v Fioranelli, 2026 NY Slip Op 06582

What happened in the Lower Manhattan parking garage

The ruling centres on a May 2023 encounter inside a parking garage in Lower Manhattan. According to the court, the man, Aqil Alshimary, was rear-cuffed and lying face down while Fioranelli sat on top of him. Fioranelli sprayed him three times with oleoresin capsicum spray, commonly known as pepper spray or mace.

Alshimary had initially been arrested after the confrontation. Reporting by THE CITY, based on court records and surveillance video, said the charges against him were later dismissed and sealed after he completed a diversion program. The same reporting said Fioranelli was fired by the NYPD after his trial conviction.

Why the justification defence failed

Fioranelli argued that his actions were justified. The appellate panel rejected that defence, writing that prosecutors proved beyond a reasonable doubt that he lacked a reasonable ground to believe the repeated spraying was necessary. The court reviewed both the legal sufficiency and the weight of the evidence and found no basis to disturb the verdict.

The case was prosecuted by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office. A judge convicted Fioranelli after a nonjury trial in October 2025, more than two years after the garage encounter.

Background: the limits the ruling draws

Police officers in New York are permitted to use force in specific circumstances, but the ruling underlines that a badge does not erase the limits set by criminal law. Here, the court tested the officer's justification claim against what the restrained person was actually doing at the moment force was used — and found the claim failed that test.

The decision does not turn every disputed use of force into a criminal case. Criminal convictions of officers remain rare endpoints in the accountability system, and the coverage of the ruling notes that prevention depends on what happens earlier: supervision, discipline, referral to prosecutors, public disclosure and retraining when force is used against people who are already handcuffed.

What happens next

With the appeal decided, Fioranelli's convictions and his two-year probation sentence stand. For Alshimary, the ruling cannot undo the May 2023 encounter, but it puts Manhattan's intermediate appeals court on record that the spraying was not justified. No further appeal was announced in the reports of the ruling.