A Brooklyn jury has awarded $4,548,000 to Anderson Alexander, a former New York City police detective injured when the office chair he was sitting on tipped over and he shot himself in the knee with a 9 mm Smith & Wesson he was holding.
“This case is not about him shooting himself,” Alexander’s lawyer Matthew Maiorana told the Daily News. “This case is about a broken chair and an unsafe workplace.”…
Alexander, 49, who retired on a three-quarters-pay disability pension, moved to South Carolina, where he works as a sheriff’s deputy.
(Scott Shifrel, “Ex-city cop wins huge award after chair he sat in broke, sending bullet into his knee”, New York Daily News, Nov. 26).
9 Comments
Not only did he get $4.5m, but a 3/4 disability pension too??!?!
And this quote from his lawyer is priceless, “This is a guy who took hundreds of guns off the street…He knew how to handle a gun.” No. If he knew how to “handle” a gun, he would have unloaded it before sticking it down his pants.
He clearly had no idea how to handle a gun.
Even if liability was clear, that’s an outrageously high verdict – especially for a guy who is still working and getting disability.
Yep, excessive…
goes to show what a cheap chair will cost!
[…] (h/t Overlawyered) […]
This may be what happened to Plaxico Burress.
[…] in point: dipshit-with-a-badge Anderson Alexander, a NYPD detective who shot himself while sticking a gun into his waistband, and then convinced a […]
“This is a guy who took hundreds of guns off the street,” Maiorana said. “He knew how to handle a gun.”
This statement is absurd, but then again (given the local laws) I wouldn’t expect a Brooklyn jury to know just how stupid this officer was regarding basic firearm safety. Attempting to put a loaded, unsafetied pistol into your waistband (while sitting in an office chair) is a total Barney Fife move.
As far as I can recall, Barney Fife never shot himself despite his bumbling nature.
“As far as I can recall, Barney Fife never shot himself despite his
bumbling nature.”
That’s because Andy preempted Barney’s inner klutz and made him keep the one round he was issued in his shirt pocket. Unloaded pistols can’t fire, no matter what the provocation.