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NYPD hits 72 year-old man with scooter, charges with jaywalking, old man wins suit

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K

kame-sennin

Member
Taxpayers are shelling out nearly $3 million after a scooter-riding police officer slammed into a pedestrian and sent him flying—and then threw him in jail with a broken neck. According to José Flores's lawyer, Steven Goldstein, the case was scheduled to go to trial yesterday, but lawyers reached the $2.9 million settlement on January 21st.
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The crash occurred on August 7th, 2012, when Flores was crossing the street near the intersection of Liberty Avenue and Barbey Street in Cypress Hills. As surveillance video shows, the great-grandfather looked both ways before continuing across the street, but then-police officer Thomas Hopper ran him over while speeding by on a motor scooter, sending Flores spinning in the air.

According to Goldstein, Hopper then proceeded to charge him with endangering the life of a police officer, which is a misdemeanor. He told Sergeant Colleen Price that Flores had crossed between two parked cars and appeared from out of nowhere, and that he had no way to avoid the collision. But the video shows Flores crossing the street in plain view.

Flores was transported to the nearby Brookdale Hospital, where his lawyer says he was handcuffed to the bed in the emergency room and discharged shortly after being admitted, despite complaining of pain in his neck. The lawsuit alleges that Price and Hopper encouraged the hospital to discharge him without even performing an X-ray.
Upon his discharge, Flores was arrested on an open warrant for an open container summons from 2009 and thrown in jail. He remained there for 36 hours while complaining of severe pain in his neck. According to Goldstein, Flores said that while he was in jail, the other inmates gave him their sandwiches so that he could make a pillow for his neck.

After over 36 hours, a judge dismissed the warrant and suggested that Flores seek medical attention. He immediately went to Jamaica Hospital in Queens, where he was diagnosed with two fractured vertebrae in his neck. He remained in the hospital for four months in a halo brace; another four months after that, he had major surgery performed on his neck.

Among many things, the lawsuit accuses Hopper and Price of falsifying facts on the police report to absolve Hopper of any liability in the collision; putting pressure on Brookdale Hospital to release him prematurely; and charging Flores with a jaywalking violation, despite the fact that he was not jaywalking. Goldstein eventually took the jaywalking case to trial, and Flores was acquitted.

Flores is now 72, and his injuries persist to this day, his lawyer said. And Flores's wife, who had been diagnosed with dementia a month before he was struck in 2012, was so worried that her husband would be put in jail for endangering a police officer that she suffered a heart attack three months later and died.
Goldstein added that Hopper was suspended from the police force in 2009 for pulling a gun on another officer.

A spokesperson for the city's law department declined to comment beyond saying that the “ettlement was in the city’s best interest.”
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http://gothamist.com/2016/01/26/scooter_cop_lawsuit.php

Video of what actually happened:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66Ja1s7HRWY
 
N

Newtype-001

Member
Flores's wife, who had been diagnosed with dementia a month before he was struck in 2012, was so worried that her husband would be put in jail for endangering a police officer that she suffered a heart attack three months later and died.
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Damn man.
 
H

hollomat

Banned
One of the most frustrating things about these lawsuits is that there is no consequences for the NYPD or the officer. The $3M will be paid by taxpayers and the officer won't be fired, docked pay or anything.

Something needs to be done about these payouts maybe along the lines of "10% needs to be paid by the officer who the lawsuit was against" otherwise there won't be any changes and taxpayers will be left footing the bill once this happens again with no consequences for the NYPD.
 
C

commedieu

Banned
hollomat said:
One of the most frustrating things about these lawsuits is that there is no consequences for the NYPD or the officer. The $3M will be paid by taxpayers and the officer won't be fired, docked pay or anything.

Something needs to be done about these payouts maybe along the lines of "10% needs to be paid by the officer who the lawsuit was against" otherwise there won't be any changes and taxpayers will be left footing the bill once this happens again with no consequences for the NYPD.
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yea. The nypd acts like theres no consequences to their actions...

because there are none :\

But thats the same for all cops. Their pensions or Unions need to be hit. Only way for progress.
 
P

Permanently A

Junior Member
This is fucking nonsense. Cops fabricate the story. If they get away with it, whoopee! If they don't the taxpayers shell out for their crimes! Its a win win!

Fucking garbage.
 
P

PeakPointMatrix

Member
According to Goldstein, Flores said that while he was in jail, the other inmates gave him their sandwiches so that he could make a pillow for his neck.
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Wow, inmates showing more humanity than an organization that is supposed to protect and serve.

And I'm sure the parties responsible got promoted or paid vacations.
 
R

radioactivez0r

Member
That is awful, terrible, and I'm glad the guy got some retribution.

But blaming the wife's fatal heart attack on her fear of him going to jail seems...over the top? Like, how can that be medically proven? I'm sure it caused her stress but that just comes across as "and they killed his wife too!" Does the article (no time to read it right now) support that claim?
 
B

BobTheFork

Member
commedieu said:
yea. The nypd acts like theres no consequences to their actions...

because there are none :\

But thats the same for all cops. Their pensions or Unions need to be hit. Only way for progress.
Click to expand...

If this hit came out of the NYPD pension, things would probably change quick. I don't think it's fair to all of them to do that but they are the fucking police - the constant lying and cover-ups need to stop and it's going to take other the cops themselves holding each other accountable to make that happen.
 
D

Dr.Guru of Peru

played the long game
radioactivez0r said:
That is awful, terrible, and I'm glad the guy got some retribution.

But blaming the wife's fatal heart attack on her fear of him going to jail seems...over the top? Like, how can that be medically proven? I'm sure it caused her stress but that just comes across as "and they killed his wife too!" Does the article (no time to read it right now) support that claim?
Click to expand...

It's outlandish and unrelated, agreed. But it certainly does help paint a picture of what the victim has gone through since the accident. Poor guy.

I'm honestly shocked the hospital discharged him, unless something is missing here - did the cops lie about the collision? He's old and has got a dangerous mechanism - that's an instant X-ray.
 
T

Tagyhag

Member
I'm blown away that he survived.

Not only should be get more compensation, the officer and his sergeant should be in jail.

Of course, nothing will happen.
 
T

TS-08

Member
Johndoey said:
Stress can trigger a heart attack, its not out of the realm of possibility.
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I don't think anyone is questioning the possibility, but rather treating such a possibility as fact and providing no support for it.

The story itself is disgusting and the wife's death adds to the man's tragic circumstances. I don't think the writer needed to sensationalize it unnecessarily.
 
T

TheOMan

Tagged as I see fit
1. Speed on scooter.
2. Hit elderly old man with such force that he breaks his neck.
3. Deny proper medical attention for the man whose neck you broke.
4. Arrest man whose neck you broke.
5. Lie on report about man whose neck you broke.
6. Cause elderly man's wife to die of heart attack.
7. Make tax payers pay for the above insanity.
8. Continue to work with no consequences for above insanity because you're part of a corrupt and broken institution.

Why should ANYBODY believe a single word any police officer says in instances where there is even a shred of doubt as to what actually transpired is beyond me. If this wasn't on camera this man would probably be in jail and/or dead for crossing the street. And yet people here and elsewhere will defend them tooth and nail and victim blame until they are blue in the face. Ugh.
 
V

Vilix

Unconfirmed Member
commedieu said:
yea. The nypd acts like theres no consequences to their actions...

because there are none :

But thats the same for all cops. Their pensions or Unions need to be hit. Only way for progress.
Click to expand...

The unions? B-b-but you're a liberal.

I don't know what makes sense anymore. :(
 
finowns

finowns

Member
You've just been ran over, cops are lying, you're in jail, and your neck is broken.. just crazy. He should have gotten more. And this police officer should be sentenced to 20 years or something, he has no empathy for another human being.
 
S

Slackbladder

Member
Not withstanding the awfulness of the accident and its consequences they both lied. That's gross misconduct in a public office. In the UK a policeman would quite likely get the sack for that. In the US? What, a paid holiday?
 
finowns

finowns

Member
If the NYPD or DA were lucid they would charge the police officer and try and get some credibility back.

Perhaps the cop was arrested?
 
B

BlueTsunami

there is joy in sucking dick
Officer must have been going lightspeed to not only bail but make the dude fly like that at impact while sliding
 
K

KarmaCow

Member
Wow and then he charged guy with endangering a police officer. It's so routine at this point that he's already building that narrative against the guy.

Is the guy still a cop? The wording is weird.
 
S

sarcastor

Member
and yet cop unions wants to make video recording a cop a crime, cause it "distracts them" from doing their duties.

They didn't mention their duties involving injuring civilians, arresting them on false charges and then lying about it to their superiors and the press.
 
H

hollomat

Banned
ssolitare said:
3 Million isn't enough, they need to shell out way more.
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You say they, but it's not they shelling it out. If it was $100 million instead of $3 million, it wouldn't make any difference to the NYPD. It's all coming from taxpayers and not out of the NYPD budget.
 
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