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.
When you are in police custody and unable to protect or care for yourself, the police have a legal obligation to protect and provide reasonable care for you. Done, settled, period. Not up for argument.
It’s not that the cop caused the heart attack that people are upset about, it’s that she laughed at him and drove away without calling an ambulance or offering him a ride to the ER.
It’s entirely possible to wield AUTHORIT-EYE without being a jerk. There are good folks out there who do it every day. ;)
Except I'd demand the name of the person who informed so they could be made to pay for their false report.
Except that if the victim is Black, his attorney is ALWAYS on the news. Don’t you understand by now how race relations work in America?
Only if the fundamental human right to armed self-defense is utterly abrogated as it is in so many places across the country and around the world.
Another example of government being a disease masquerading as its own cure, perhaps?
If she's the one who kneed him in the back, assault and battery.
Nope, it's perfectly fine, I have slept through earthquakes and hurricanes.
Look a couple posts up, it was exactly what I had guessed.
Did you read the thread, or do you just know us tooo well?
Agreed.
If the cops come at you with guns drawn screaming obscenities, as apparently happened in this case, I tend to doubt that smiling while they bash your head into the hood of your car would work.
You're right. A person with a heart condition having a heart attack during an arrest is one thing. Her indifference is really what I find offensive. Her attitude, while perhaps not a crime, makes me want them all held accountable for the whole thing. Without her snide remark and lack of assistance I'd probably give the cops a pass on this and chalk it up to simply being unfortunate.
Thanks.
While that may be true as you state ...
I am from the buffalo area .. and I know of many Rasta’s who also dress in similar fashion and are not involved in Gang activity ... now MJ use is common but that would be the extent of thier “criminal activity”.
I read about 20 posts. lol I’ve been here long enough I probably didn’t need to go that far. ;^)
I'm not you. I'm willing to believe that the report was made in good faith.
The police did due diligence by checking it out.
Everyone was satisfied by the outcome.
Marijuana sales as well as use are the business of some Rasta crews in Brooklyn, and while things are perhaps more laid back in Buffalo, these crews can get very violent indeed when they believe someone is moving in on their business.
What part of “If this is true, then she doesn’t belong in jail, only the cops who assaulted the man causing him to have a heart attack.” don’t you understand?
“It’s not wrong to question and discipline rogue cops, but to paint all cops with a broad brush as being jackbooted thugs, brownshirts, or whatever is a disservice to the officers who do their jobs and do them well.”
Agreed. When I see the cops stopping the behavior themselves then perhaps I’ll revise. I used to have a very high opinion of peace officers.
It might also help to take the military uniforms off. To stop no knock entries as a response to non-violent minor crimes might also. Stop shooting people who are threatening suicide and who are no danger to other people.
Oh no - my own experiences aren't nearly enough to do that. I've simply had 'normal' traffic stops that amounted to nothing.
It's stuff like dead old ladies, compounds full of dead children and innocent people being locked up because cops planted crushed sheetrock in their car that "justify and foster my hatred".
“All opinions expressed on this thread are completely invalid.”
That sounds like an opinion.
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