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Cops Mistake Window Smoker For Suicidal Jumper
By
Ben Yakas
Published Dec 19, 2010
Modified Dec 19, 2010
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Dec 19, 2010
Modified Dec 19, 2010
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We all know that as far as the Bloomberg administration is concerned, if you smoke cigarettes anywhere within city limits, you're scum. So when cops saw trial lawyer Mark Moody taking a cigarette break on the sill of his second-floor apartment window, they wrongly identified him as an emotionally disturbed person, assumed he was trying to commit suicide, and brought him in for a psychiatric evaluation against his will. Because you must be suicidal if you're smoking cigarettes, right?
The incident occurred last August in Peck Slip; Moody filed a lawsuit against the city and the police officers for $400,000 in damages this month. Even now, Moody can't understand how the cops could have been confused about what he was doing, when he was a mere 12 feet from the ground. "If I was going to commit suicide, this would be a pretty dumb place to do it. If I jumped from here, I'd just sprain my ankle," the 40-year-old yelled at the cops that day from his ledge, after he refused to come down. Three ambulance, four patrol cars, and one broken-door later, Moody was being wrestled to the ground by the cops. The on-duty psychiatrist at Beth Israel Hospital apologized to him quickly for the misunderstanding: "I talked to him for three minutes, and he said, 'Look, I'm really sorry. I apologize on behalf of the city,' " Moody told the Post.
According to NYPD spokesman Paul Browne, "Police responded to a 911 call of an emotionally disturbed person at the location. When police arrived, they observed the male sitting on the ledge talking erratically...and the person was removed to the hospital for observation." Let us reiterate: it was a twelve-foot ledge. This was almost as dangerous as Improv Everywhere's brush with a suicidal jumper a couple years back.
Tagged
bloomberg
cigarettes
cops
Jumper
lawsuit
nypd
smoking
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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