They should have just let this guy die on the streets. I can not think of a better definition of "a worthless life".
From the New York Post:
Heroin addict allegedly drags NYPD cop with his car — and wins $11 million in court
A heroin addict with nearly 20 arrests to his name allegedly dragged a cop along a busy Bronx street while fleeing a traffic stop, forcing another lawman to shoot him — and a jury just handed him an $11 million payday, The Post has learned.
The incident:
Lopez, 27 when the encounter happened, was in the midst of “a two-week-long bender” and had just scored his latest fix on Feb. 1, 2006, when he rolled through a stop sign at East 169th Street and Grand Concourse, a city lawyer wrote in papers filed in the Bronx Supreme Court case.
Sgt. Philippe Blanchard and Officer Zinos Konstantinides pulled Lopez’s Honda to a stop shortly before noon and ordered him to kill the engine, but he refused to comply, according to the filings.
Instead, when Konstantinides reached inside the car to make a grab at the keys, Lopez hit the gas, dragging the cop into traffic along bustling Grand Concourse, the documents said.
Fearing “that his partner would be maimed or killed if he did not take immediate, forceful action,” Blanchard fired a single shot, striking Lopez in the neck, the city wrote in the papers.
I have to say that his attorney has chutzpah:
Lopez, according to police sources, has 19 lifetime arrests and, by his own admission in court, “about 13” convictions.
His attorney, Brett Klein, even requested of the jury $6 million to $9 million for lost earnings — despite Lopez not being employed at the time of the incident, according to the documents.
Fortunately, clearer heads are running things:
The NYPD deferred comment to the city Law Department, which said the case may not be over just yet.
“The split-second response by an officer likely stopped this driver from dragging an officer to his death, a response we believe was justified under the circumstances,” said spokesman Nicholas Paolucci in a statement. “We strongly disagree with this verdict and are reviewing the city’s legal options.”
Worst case scenario, Mr. Lopez gets some money and ODs. Win/win.
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