Police these days have no problem breaking down doors, shooting dogs, killing difficult patients who don’t want to go to the hospital, and generally behaving like criminal gangs, but if this story is any indication of what happens when the chips are down, in life-threatening emergencies they couldn’t care less:
A man who was brutally stabbed by Brooklyn subway slasher Maksim Gelman two years ago had his negligence case against the city dismissed in courtyesterday, despite the fact that two transit officers had locked themselves in a motorman’s car only a few feet from him at the time of the attack.
Gelman stabbed Joseph Lozito in the face, neck, hands and head on an uptown 3 train in February 2011, after fatally stabbing four people and injuring three others in a 28-hour period. Lozito, a father of two and an avid martial arts fan, was able to tackle Gelman and hold him down, and Gelman was eventually arrested by the transit officers. Lozito sued the city, arguing that the police officers had locked themselves in the conductor’s car and failed to come to his aid in time.
More here and here. Bottom line is that the police have no duty to do anything at all.
A Manhattan Supreme Court Justice ruled Thursday that the City of New York has no legal duty to protect citizens, even if armed police officers are nearby, see a violent crime in progress, and choose to hide in order to save their own skins instead of responding, The Gothamist reported late last week.
Exactly what are those cops there for? To grab fare cheats? Take guns away from law abiding people? Or are they just supposed to sit in their bulletproof booths and act important?
Unbelievable.
It seems as if things just keep getting worse and worse. If the police cannot and will not defend people, then why not let people defend themselves?
It goes without saying that if Lozito had defended himself with a gun against this bloodthirsty murderer, he’d be looking at a prison term.
And meanwhile, there is a war on self defense.
Comments
7 responses to “DESPICABLE COWARDS!”
It’s very simple, if you’re not a cop you are worthless. Even worse, you’re the enemy and what ever you want means trouble for them.
If the police cannot and will not defend people, why have police?
Lucky for him he wasn’t in Florida. The attacker could have shot him and claimed selfdefense and fear for his life.
Jennifer Krieger:
Lucky for him he wasn’t in Florida. The attacker could have shot him and claimed selfdefense and fear for his life.
Several years ago, there was a trial involving self-defense in the Rochester, NY area.
BTW, Roderick Scott is black and 17 year old Chris Cervini was white.
Any comment?
The police have no duty to protect. It’s impossible to assign them that duty, unless we are to each have a cop at our elbows at all times. There are also going to be tragic situations in which individual police must choose who to protect and who to let go. Making them liable for the consequences of those decisions would result in an effective loss of police protection in toto.
These facts of life are only a problem in jurisdictions that penalize self-defense, like NYC.
-Remember Columbine? The SWAT team sat around outside for two hours because they were afraid that if they went in they would be shot at. I thought the police took an oath to protect and defend, but what do I know, I’m only a citizen. I guess it’s an oath to protect and defend their pensions or something.
-Look to England to see where we’re heading, they’ve been prosecuting people for self defense for years, and that includes a retired rugby player wrestling and holding a violent mugger until the police showed up. Not that arming bobbies was a good idea, they have a record of shooting, among others, a man walking down the street with a table leg in a paper bag and an immigrant plumber’s assistant who lived in the same building as one of the subway bombers.
“The attacker could have shot him and claimed selfdefense and fear for his life.”
Any accused attacker can claim self defense and fear for his life, and not just in Florida. It is part of our legal system.
But there is no guarantee it will work. For such a claim to be effective, a jury has to believe it.