Hit and Run Driver Sues City for Trashed Car

082508shasho.jpgBrooklyn's own Harry Shasho, owner of luxury car detailing shop 212 Motoring, is suing the city for neglecting his Bentley while it was impounded as evidence for a year and a half. According to the Daily News, Shasho is seeking $190,000 in damages because police allowed "mold to grow inside and water damage to occur, rendering the vehicle inoperable." What the lawsuit doesn't mention is that Shasho's Bentley was already a little dinged up after that night in 2005 when he ran over 54-year-old Louis (Pete) Couch on Ocean Parkway and left him for dead. The Post reports the Bentley had a cracked windshield and damage to the headlights, fender and roof. He pleaded guilty, did some community service, and lost his license for six months. Hearing about the lawsuit, the victim's longtime girlfriend told the News, "He's not a human being, he's an animal with no conscience."

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Unbelievable. What a prick.

The really sad thing is the city will probably have to settle with him and give him some money because it will be cheaper than going to court to fight it.

Can someone please explain how an individual who kills someone and then flees the scene only gets 5 years probation, community service, and a six month suspended sentence? Seriously? Even if it was an "accident" and Shasho wasn't drunk, doesn't fleeing the scene automatically give you some jail time?

Fucking scumbag. i hope someone shit in the glove box-repeatedly

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he'll never see a dime from the city or anyone else. it'll never get to court

If I were the City's counsel, I would let this thing go to the jury. He would be hard pressed to find a panel of jurors who would look upon him favorably.

Why don't all the corrupt cops ever pound these scumbags into an inch of life?

The car should have been returned as a 2x3x2' block of compressed steel....with a complementary pine tree air freshener, of course.

wow...

wow...

...unbelievable.

Um, I don't like seeing this prick get anything either, but this is kind of how justice is supposed to work. You're not supposed to be punished once you've completed your sentence and settled with the people you've wronged--even if you're an asshole. Due process does not apply only to good people.

If the city impounded my property and returned it to me destroyed I'd want to be repaid too.

Thanks Mike B.. At least someone gets it. You can't cherry pick rights.

He left the victim to die. How about repaying his family. You can bet he paid his lawyer.

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Mike B: I totally agree. The government should never have the right to destroy private property, no matter who owns it.

Pretty sure the government didn't destroy the property... They just impounded it like every other piece of evidence.

Maybe he should sue Mother Nature! Afterall, it was the water and mold damage that wrecked the car. Her fault.

He hit someone and left him for dead and only lost his license for six months!? His license should be revoke forever.

Shouldn't the city be taking better care of evidence? And are we to assume they take better care of evidence that belongs to victims?

About 40 years ago my parent's car was stolen in Queens. Fortunately, the car was recovered intact several months later being driven by the thief. Unfortunately, my parents had since relocated to London, England for my father's job. The DA declined to press charges and the police would not release the car to my grandfather who also lived in Queens. So the car sat in an impound lot all winter buried in snow. When my father finally reclaimed the car on his next visit to New York the brakes were rusted out and had to be replaced and there was other damage.

Yes! Let's worry about his rights! Of course. Let him murder with impunity and get the murder weapon back with a free oil change and car wash. If it was your family member run over and left for dead like roadkill, you would not preaching about the murderer's rights. Not unless you were a scumbag lawyer...

"If it was your family member run over and left for dead like roadkill, you would not preaching about the murderer's rights. "

No shit sherlock, but the justice system in this country isn't based on victims revenge. It's based on the rule of law.

Like it or not, the suit has merit.

It appears that the area where the hit and run occurred has just been rebuilt with a small protected standing area in the middle of that big street.

Ocean Parkway was a 6 lane area and very prone to accidents because of the complex traffic turns.

Pedestrians were often caught in the middle of the street as the lights were changing and cars turning even during their green walk light.

Interestingly enough, Coney Island Hospital is also on Ocean Parkway

Just because he's a disgusting dick doesn't mean the police should allow evidence to rot away under their care. What if the evidence for this case had been destroyed and the police were unable to charge him? That'd be pretty crap.

Maybe if he wins the case the money could be loaded onto a dolly and then run over him, leaving him for dead?

He runs a detailing shop. He can clean it out himself.

Thanks to all who pointed to "the law" as setting these conclusions in stone. But might I add: the law is decided and promoted by human beings, and is subject to modifications based on the lived context of the letter. We are empowered to change it, if it ceases to express/justify what we (reasonable people) want it to express/justify.

What is opprobrious is this man's resort to the law, as victim, to redress a perceived wrong. This man, bred by some unfortunate human beings, sees it fit to demand recompense for eventualities wrought by his own doing. The irony is crippling -- he turns to the law to right a consequence he brought about. Even if the letter grants him what he is due, should we not seek the spirit of the law, or at least investigate further what our intuitions cream when we want to bury the motherfucker?

Sorry, I meant "what our intuitions scream"

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