Posted on 10/08/2007 9:23:47 AM PDT by SubGeniusX
A mild-mannered Brooklyn high school teacher says he was nearly scared to death by NYPD cops who mistook him for a perp.
When the violent encounter was over, Lester Jacob, 50, suffered a heart attack and was left on his own in the street by cops, who accused him of "acting."
In July he underwent open-heart surgery.
Jacob had the misfortune to be driving home through Brownsville, Brooklyn, on June 22 around the same time cops were on the lookout for a hit-and-run driver. Jacob, an earth science teacher at James Madison High School in Midwood, heard a siren, looked in his rear-view mirror and dutifully pulled over for the radio car behind him.
He wasn't prepared for what happened next. Two officers rushed up to Jacob's vehicle and pointed their guns at his head, according to a lawsuit filed in Brooklyn Federal Court.
Cursing at him, they ordered Jacobs out of the car and roughly cuffed him.
"One officer crushed his knee into Mr. Jacob's back," the complaint states. "They then repeatedly slammed his head onto the car and then pressed his head against the car for some time."
Additional officers arrived on the scene with a witness to the earlier accident. The witness told them Jacob was the wrong guy.
"'I told you it was a white Maxima,'" the witness reportedly said, according to the complaint. Jacob drives a white Infiniti.
Jacob told the cops he was experiencing chest pains and began coughing uncontrollably.
A female cop said, "Nice acting," according to Jacob, and then drove off. Jacob said he struggled to drive home, stopping to vomit on the side of the road.
His wife rushed him to the hospital, where doctors determined he had suffered a heart attack.
"I was scared to death," Jacob said of his brush with the NYPD. "I was feeling terror."
His attorney John Lambros said there was no reason for the cops to handcuff or use excessive force against the 150-pound teacher while they were waiting for the witness to show up.
The cops were not identified, but their radio car number has been turned over to the Civilian Complaint Review Board. A spokeswoman for the city Law Department said the complaint is being reviewed.
“I just know that, if under those circumstances, I made the mistake of asserting my rights, claiming victimhood, getting arrogantly combative, verbally or otherwise before allowing the guys with the guns from knowing I am no danger to them, I have some serious survival deficiencies, or a total lack of brains.”
yep, lets prove our innocence and then ask politely if we can cease taking their valuable time.
“I’m not a cop but I realize that without the “thin blue line” there would be chaos. Interesting that 99% of the cop haters usually include a tell tale word or two in their posts”.....yada yada,etc.....”Freakin’ losers.”
Got anything handy for people who simply do not defend the cop every single time no matter what?
Right. So if I call a doctor and say I'm having a heart attack, he'll just scratch his head and say, "Those words mean nothing to me. Never heard of such a thing." So, why did my father's doctor last year tell him he had a heart attack? Was he just messing with him?
Yes, the victim is responsible for the condition of his arteries...
Um, there are genetic predispositions for cardiac health issues. A person can eat reasonably, not smoke etc, and still have heart problems all because their ancestors had them. I know because it runs in the family and had an Aunt die on the table after suffering a heart attack, and the ER cardiac people were cathing her when her arteries basically disintegrated. She didn't smoke, drink and wasn't over weight. Her parents, my grandparents both died of cardiac issues within a year of each other back in 39.
I'm hoping that it is going to skip my generation. But if I run the possibility of drying from it anyway, regardless of lifestyle, then I might as well enjoy life as best I can while I still got it.
It should be, but that just wouldn't be PC.
“I have the answer to that question,unions and town selectboards are the major impediments to dealing with problem officers in my area’”
The unions are a big problem, agreed.
‘Not all LEOs are bad guys and I think even you cophaters know that, but its not an easy job and if any of you can do a better job’
Not a “cop hater” just tired of hearing the whiney ‘poor me’ stories from people who signed up for the job. Yes its a tough job but so are many others.
“These cops mentioned in the article are terribly wrong and should be disciplined, but I guarentee that if their chief tries to do something, the union will fight it to the end!!!!”
Perhaps you are right the union will. You’re suggesting that us little peons should be satisfied with that answer though and I’m not. Our police depts are too militarized and people are dying. We are literally in a “papers please” society now and anyone who questions it is labeled a ‘cop hater’.
Over the last 10 years I’ve had cause to call the cops 3 times. Each time they coulda cared less.
Just for the sake of corroboration, I would like to go on the record as saying I don't even know what a "Pubius6961" is...
Nope, wisecracks aren’t, but failing to reder aid after causing said medical distress certainly can be. I really wish I knew why some people defended all cops, all the time.
And there are some on here who actually believe that...sickening, isn't it.
Again, you clearly have no conception of the statute.
I really wish I knew why some people defended all cops, all the time.
Her comment is obviously indefensible.
What I don't understand is why some people think the cops should go to prison for having a bad attitude.
These same people would go ballistic if having a bad attitude was actually illegal.
I don’t hate cops, but I do despise the cop groupies here on FR who defend every bad cop. Just one run-in with one bad cop would have these groupies singing a different tune.
Pot. Kettle. Black.
Of course my comments are based on the assumption that the article is accurate. That should not even have to be stated, as it's clear from the context (which is that I'm commenting on the situation as described in the article.) I see no reason to assume the article is false in any material way—although, of course, it could be.
But your criticism is based on the opposite assumption, without any obvious reason to assume that there is any material falsehood in the article—which is a strange assumption to make, unless you have some emotional reason to assume the article is false is any material way, in the absence of any evidence to support that assumption.
I would withdraw my comment, were I to discover some material falsehood in the story. Would you withdraw yours, were you to find the article to be materially correct?
The courts have officially decided that the police function is not to provide 'appropriate' (whatever that means) assistance to people in danger; they can't (are not allowed to) prevent crimes, just fix them after they happen.
You confuse a duty to prevent crime with a duty to provide aide and assistance. You are right about the lack of any duty to prevent a crime. But you are quite wrong about the duty to provide aide to those in need of emergency services—especially in a situation where the police are themselves the proximate cause of that need.
I just know that, if under those circumstances, I made the mistake of asserting my rights, claiming victimhood, getting arrogantly combative, verbally or otherwise...
There is no evidence on the record (which in this context, is the text of the posted article) which provides any reason to assume that any of those things occurred. That makes you look like you have an agenda which prevents you from reacting to the evidence available, and requires you to assume facts that are not in evidence. Why is that?
VN_Survivor_67-68 is setting up a classic straw man. He's seizing on the fact that there is no formal medical definition of something called a "heart attack". By suggesting that since you aren't using the term "myocardial infarction" your argument is wrong, he is simply betraying the fact that he has no argument of his own.
I was simply explaining my view of reality.
Please feel free to exercise your own. Let us know how that works out for you.
“And there are some on here who actually believe that...sickening, isn’t it.”
It is sickening. SWAT teams shooting grandma’s, other grandma’s getting cavity searched, peoples pets being shot for no reason, property damaged, and on and on.
Yes cops have a tough job but they signed up for it. Respect has to be earned and regardless of the reason the Police Depts in this country have lost the respect of many many people. All those cops-can-do-no wrong folks can whine and cry all they want but eventually people will have enough of it.
Why do the police enjoy getting themselves into trouble over and over again? Too many of these people that become cops love to abuse the “little” people and refuse to the heat for being wrong.
I am sure that many of the crooks they deal with are dangerous, but they treat the common citizen as trash too often and allow their own to commit crimes too often! I know for a fact that a local police officer got caught with a DUI, but they allowed him to falsify the report and get away with it.
What, wideawake, does the statute say? Clearly you've read it.
That's a serious question. I haven't read it and I'm curious to know if it would apply.
A man with a perfectly healthy heart being scared by an arrest into developing a brand new heart condition is far less plausible a medical explanation than a man with an unhealthy heart being scared into aggravating a preexisting condition.
If someone's heart is so fragile that an arrest can give them a heart attack, the chances of them living 50 years - and a good chunk of it in Brooklyn - without having any severe stress in their lives before the age of 50 is approximately 0.000%
Thanks, for the post ...
and I think you will find .. that the “cophaters” here are no such thing ... we do vehemently protest abuse of authority and “badcops”
but
I do believe that all of us respect those that “Protect and Serve” with dignity and honor ...
Thank your husband for me
Not unusual to wait until condition is stabilized to have cardiac surgery after an mi. In fact if they gave him urokinase or streptokinase they would have to wait.
I guess the hero cops falsely arresting this guy and roughing him up is nothing to get upset about he should be grateful to them that they didn't shoot him let him bleed to death and have a good laugh about it.
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