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.
No. When they cause a medical condition and they are made aware of that fact, it is their job to render aid. By failing to render appropriate aid, they were perpetuating the injury. They knowingly injured him.
I would challenge you to find a case anywhere in the US in the last ten years in which a police officer or police management was charged, tried, and convicted of any abuse of power. In the absence of proven malice, the doctrine of official immunity trumps the constitution. (note: Malice is either expressed or implied. Express malice occurs when a party gives notice of the intention to commit a crime. Implied malice occurs when, in the course of nefarious or unlawful doings, a party causes the death of another party or does harm to another.) Indifference to the harm caused to a citizen or even criminal negligence are protected by this doctrine. Police departments don't care that the taxpayers have to foot the bill for their failures and being on several weeks of paid administrative leave until the public ire blows over isn't a deterrent.
Yup.
The police deal with The Boy Who Cried Wolf a hundred times a day.
Yup. people who the cops are DONE WITH AND RELEASING routinely try to sucker the cops into sticking around. Especially right after the have been kneed, cuffed, and had their heads slammed into hard objects.
The is that well known universal 'Please sir, can I have some more?' phenomena.
Apparently this man's emdical condition was so serious he waited a few weeks to have surgery.
Normal practice is to treat arrhythmia with meds first, and only if the non-invasive treatment doesn't work resort to general anesthesia, and cracking the chest open...
That would be a valid point if it mattered. I'm going to assume they sent an unhealthy heart over the edge by using excessive force. So what if his heart was unhealthy? It was their unreasonable actions that triggered his heart attack. It's not unlike the Atlanta olympic park bomber being held liable for the spectator that had a heart attack in the aftermath of the bomb scare.
There are two key points in this case: (1) the police used excessive force and (2) after being made aware of his medical condition they did nothing.
“This article certainly doesn’t establish liability, and I doubt you know much more about the case than what the article narrates.”
lol... close enough for me. The only question now is if they will do jail time or just lose their jobs?
I'll take third-degree assault then
First, I begin with a piece of advice: if either of you are ever in legal trouble do not act as your own attorney.
Second, if you are going to claim that this woman assaulted Jacobs or recklessly caused him injury you;re going to have to actually explain your reasoning - because your claims make no logical sense or legal sense.
The man was already in physical distress before she opened her mouth. Her statement, according the laws of the physical universe, could not cause an event that already occurred.
Moreover, her comment in no way prevented him from seeking subsequent medical attention.
Do you really want to live in a country where snotty after-the-fact comments are punishable as assault or attempted murder?
Where would it end?
I will thus be mercifully brief in response. I don't get paid by the word.
I was simply reacting to the overwhelming spirit in this thread, that the comments are based on full knowledge of all the facts, and that the cops were in the wrong.
Neither are true.
I have spent lots of hours surrounded by law students (bless their li'l ol' hearts) and am amused by the tactics.
A little argumentum verbosium goes a long way...
Best regards.
This is gibberish.
How could they knowingly have injured him when he claims that he was already injured by the time she opened her mouth, and since her utterance revealed she did not know he was actually injured but was under the mistaken impression that he was not?
In point of fact, they often do. Especially if they are trying to distract the cops. Gangbangers routinely do this.
I'll point out that Mr. Jacobs is dressed and groomed in a similar style to gang members who frequent the Nostrand Avenue area of Brooklyn.
A bad actor.
I stand corrected.
So whose door did they come crashing through? Dad's. They threw him off the bed and handcuffed him.
He was ASLEEP! Cops are useless and for all I care they can all go get killed. We'll throw them a parade but at least we'll have gotten rid of them.
Neither one. These are cops in NY. They can do no wrong by definition.
I’m afraid you’re absolutely right. Police officers serve the city not the citizens. The city belongs to politicians at every level. We have seen story after story of police abuse in our city. It gets worse every year.
I never said the woman assaulted him. The other cops did.
Bizarre way to admit you have no argument, but i'll take the admission anyway.
Neither will happen.
They didn't do anything criminal, and nothing described in the article equates to a firing offense.
We basically have a misidentification and an insensitive comment.
Once he told he was injured, she knew it or should have known it. By failing to render aid after that point, the cops were perpetuating his injury.
And there we have it.
You are completely irrational and your disjointed and illogical commentary now makes perfect sense: you are obsessed.
I hope the mods allow this bizarre rant to stand.
Back when feminists were arguing for a lowering of the height and other requirements to be a cop, one of their main reasons was that women would put a stop to the manhandling and brutality, LOL.
Don't forget the excessive force, which is what caused this whole mess.
Unless the cops are dealing with a suspect they have proable cause committed a crime, they have no business handcuffing and slamming someone into the side of the car.
The police had a clear description of the car they were looking for and stopped a car that didn't meet that description. No probable cause. At best a Terry stop and quick questioning was in order.
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