The city was right in the first place
 

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/...icle-1.1176417

The comments have it - he wouldn't be dead if he wasn't stealing.

Not sure why they would be sending a bill to the family anyway. I mean he was 27 years old, not like a juvenile living at home (although something tells me he was probably living at home). The most they could have done is file a claim to $710 of the dude's estate, if he had any. Family wouldn't be responsible for his mistake.

Well if a family can sue police for what their idiot kids do, why not let police sue family's for what their idiot kids do.

IMHO every time a family sues the police, the police should counter sue. Granted the police might not get anything, but a nice judgement could be paid off one day and would cut back on silly law suits.

I lost a guy on my shift once. He was crossing the feeder road around dusk with his flashlight on to alert his presence and walk a group to a van. A semi came hurdling down the feeder (which was usually desolate) at above highway speeds. He didn't even brake until he struck the agent. The agent was thrown quite a distance and killed instantly. The locals were indifferent and didn't arrest the guy for vehicular manslaughter, or even issue him a speeding ticket. Then the company he drove for had the audacity to try to make a claim for the damage the agent's body caused the semi.

Ironic.

Because we are better than they are (or at least should be, as an institution), and we need to act that way.

Very sorry to hear about that circumstance. :( It would seem surprising that the driver wouldn't have faced at least some kind of penalties, even a driving charge. Another example of how we as officers must maintain high situational awareness at all times, because nobody else will be (such as the truck driver).

True. He was a white BPA in a town that the majority wasn't. So, in the opinion of the locals it was no great loss. It was the kind of place where if an Agent made the papers they purposely published his adress. Needless to say, I stopped backing up the locals when they needed assistance for a long time there after. We used to do that as a courtesy, beause typically there were more of us on patrol then there were of them.

Yikes and double yikes. That's some 3rd-world crap there. Shouldn't happen anywhere in the US between police agencies. :steamed:

We used to call it the northern occuptied territory of Mexico. You couldn't get help at the local HEB unless you spoke spanish.

Live within 100 miles of the border and you learn quickly that the border is just a suggestion.

Because families are not --and should not -- be responsible for what their adult children do. Many of those lawsuits are "silly" which I guess you mean have no legal basis, and are by definition frivolous.

On the other hand, you advocate counter-suing every family as a matter of course. What would the grounds be? No grounds = frivolous lawsuit. Regardless, I doubt that you would find a prosecutor willing to risk a bar card doing this because it is unethical.

Don't forget that there are cases in which the cops screw up and compensation is fair, whether the victim is sleazy or not.

Consider returning to the time in which a husband was criminally liable for the criminal acts of his wife? She steals; he goes to the pokey. Is that fair?


Due process exists for a reason. Without it, totalitarian states thrive. Is that where you want to live? Besides, Due Process in in that Constitution which you swore to uphold.