Posted on 11/27/2008 11:50:44 PM PST by Coleus
It's ragged, ripped and unsteady, but you can call it the city's $4.5 million chair. Former New York City Detective Anderson Alexander was sitting in it in Brooklyn's 73rd Precinct on Jan. 1, 2002, when his partner handed him his gun so the partner could interview a suspect. Alexander leaned back to put the gun in his waistband, but the back of the chair gave way, his finger slipped and the 9-mm. Smith & Wesson fired a bullet into his left knee. Now, despite the best efforts of city lawyers to portray the 11-year veteran as a klutz, a Brooklyn jury has awarded Alexander $4,548,000 in damages. "This case is not about him shooting himself," Alexander's lawyer Matthew Maiorana told the Daily News. "This case is about a broken chair and an unsafe workplace.
"Anderson would give the money right back if he could have his job back and his knee back." Alexander, 49, who retired on a three-quarters-pay disability pension, moved to South Carolina, where he works as a sheriff's deputy. He declined comment. The city vowed to appeal. "While it is unfortunate that Mr. Alexander shot himself in the knee accidentally, there was scant proof the chair in which he was sitting was defective," said Fay Leoussis, the city's Tort Division chief. "And no proof at all that any supposed defect had been reported to anyone." There isn't even a chair anymore. Jurors had to settle for a blown-up picture of the ragged, ripped seat because the city somehow misplaced the chair.
"We had sent a letter to the precinct to preserve the chair," Maiorana said. "They couldn't produce it. "There were pictures of the chair from the crime scene unit. It looks worn, dilapidated and rundown. It's an ugly-looking chair." Alexander, a Navy veteran who was born and raised in Brooklyn, was a decorated second-grade detective assigned to the elite street crimes unit at the time. "This is a guy who took hundreds of guns off the street," Maiorana said. "He knew how to handle a gun." Holiday decorations were still around that New Year's Day as Alexander's partner, Peter Schrammel, handed him his 40-ounce gun for safe-keeping.
Alexander's service weapon was in a hip holster so, without standing up, he put Schrammel's in his waistband. As he leaned back, the chair back slipped and jerked him backward. As he tried to right himself, his finger slipped under the finger guard and the bullet discharged into Alexander's left leg, shattering a bone in his knee joint. "He's lucky in a sense that he didn't shoot himself somewhere else," Maiorana said. "He's not a klutz. He's a guy who just leaned back in a chair." The six-member jury deliberated six hours over two days after a three-week trial. On Nov. 18, it gave Alexander $500,000 for pain he's suffered, $1 million for future pain, $1.3 million for lost wages, $1.3 million for lost pension and the rest for future medical bills and other expenses.
An avid basketball, football and baseball player, Alexander can no longer be a "weekend warrior" and would need painful knee-replacement surgery to repair the damage, his lawyer said. Alexander made more than $90,000 a year before he retired, including overtime. He's earning more than $50,000 on disability pension, plus $24,000 as a sheriff's deputy. "He's a court officer, runs a metal detector," Maiorana said. "He does wear a gun. It sounds like it was a case about a gun. It wasn't a case about a gun. It was about the chair."
For what it’s worth, I read the article to say that this was not the suspect’s gun, but the partner’s gun.
I would assume that it is a rule that you can not interview a suspect alone while armed, so the partner gave his gun to the guy to hold while he was doing the interview.
The cops I have known do not unload every time they take it off or store it. So why would we expect it to be done here?
Playing devil’s advocate here, maybe he was sitting somewhere where he could not put the gun in a drawer or other storage place.
His partner hands him the gun and rather than sitting there holding a gun, he tucks it into his waistband. (the picture seems to show it’s not a large piece)
When he leans back, the chair breaks and he starts to fall backward. I would think under this senario your first instinct might be to grab the gun so it does not fall to the floor, thus he grabbed the gun the most natural way.
If the gun did not slide smoothly from his waistband, this might lead to him pulling the trigger as he fell backwards.
Just a thought.
That cop watched far too many movies.
I really can’t express how disgusted I am with a-hole cops in general, our “justice system” and NYC as a whole.
Take the magazine out.
Pull the slide back to eject the round and lock the slide.
You’re free to scratch your head with said pistol if you wish.
He had a negligent discharge in a police station. If I was the presiding judge I would have thrown the suit out, then angrily asked him “Why didn’t you follow proper firearm safety rules?” He nearly would have left with my shoe up where the sun doesn’t shine.
***What is the first thing you do when someone hands you a gun?***
Check to make sure it’s not loaded.
Of course it was loaded. He knew it was loaded.
It was his partner’s duty gun. Why would he unload it while he’s sitting there with a loaded gun in his holster?
Why unload it? Because somebody walking in, either not handcuffed or cuffed hands in the front, can pick it up and start taking shots.
It’s a safety issue. The cop that had the negligent discharge can probably barely handle one pistol, nevermind two.
NYPD issues Glocks, which don't have traditional safeties.
READ the article before posting, dummy.
Why was his finger in the trigger guard? Did he think he might have to shoot the other cop who was giving him the gun?
Or idiots in the jury box?
Except for the socialized medicine.
Still, the award was beyond excessive, considering the guy IS WORKING!!!
Let’s see, let me guess, he didn’t have the safety on, or this pistol isn’t equipped with a safety AND he forgot to unload it before sticking it into his belt. Got it. Wasn’t his fault it was the fault of his superiors who allowed such an untrained idiot to run loose on a police force!
Why unload it? Because somebody walking in, either not handcuffed or cuffed hands in the front, can pick it up and start taking shots.
It’s a safety issue. The cop that had the negligent discharge can probably barely handle one pistol, nevermind two.
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That’s why he stuck in his waistband. If he unloads it and then clears the chamber, he’s now sitting there with a shell, a magazine, and a pistol in his hands.
What does he do now? What if he has to go to the bathroom?
> Except for the socialized medicine.
The system works well INCLUDING the socialized medicine. This is because our economy and infrastructures have been custom-designed to include universal access to medicine as a spending priority.
You still end up paying for somebody else’s accident in the US: you just fool yourselves into thinking you don’t. Where did the four million dollars compensation for the clumsy cop come from? The tooth fairy?
If it came from the gummint you paid for it in taxes. If it came from an insurance company you paid for it in premiums. If it comes from a company’s bottom-line profit you pay for it in higher prices. No matter where it comes from you pay for it.
The only difference is, socialized medicine is a tad more transparent and just possibly more efficient.
no, if the law doesn’t provide a remedy by default, then the judge doesn’t turn the outcome of the case over to the jury.
Sorry; I would like to see less government involved in health care, not more. And I’m saying this as an RN who has to comply with stupid regs because of Medicare and Medicaid.
More government; less freedom
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