Monday, November 11, 2013

Bystanders shot by police face aggressive NYC legal defense // NY Times

16 bystanders have been shot by the NYPD in the past three years.  a 2010 4-3 decision by the new York Court of Appeals has left them with little prospect of compensation by the City.  Maybe there should be a no-fault fund? - GWC
Bystanders shot by police face aggressive NYC legal defense // NY Times
by J David Gordon
Outside the Empire State Building in Midtown one mild morning in the summer of 2012, the crowd consisted of tourists and office workers — and a solitary gunman who was fleeing the site of a murder. As the police closed in, the gunman drew his .45-caliber handgun, and two officers opened fire, discharging 16 shots in all.

Ten people were hit: the gunman, who was killed, and nine pedestrians caught in the hail and ricochet of police bullets.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg described the shooting in August 2012 as an appropriate, heroic response by the officers, but sympathized with those wounded. “It’s sad that anybody else was injured,” he said then.

In the months since, however, lawyers for the City of New York have presented a far more aggressive stance against the wounded bystanders who have sued, essentially refusing to settle the cases and moving to have them thrown out before trial....

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