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One day in September 2008, Queens High School student Stephen Cruz suffered a lacerated forehead when school safety agent Daniel O’Connell, without provocation, allegedly kicked open a restroom stall that Stephen was using. Cruz claims that after he tumbled to the floor bleeding from his head, O'Connell (whom the students called RoboCop) walked away saying, "That's life; it will stop bleeding." Typical robot.
Cruz's family filed a federal lawsuit along with the NYCLU, naming NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly, School Chancellor Joel Klein and the supervisory officer at the 107th Precinct as codefendants for their roles in allegedly covering up the incident and for their failure to properly train, screen, discipline or supervise school safety agents. Yesterday a federal judge approved a settlement deal for $55,500.
The NYCLU claims the incident "illustrates the tension and lack of transparency and accountability that has existed in schools since school safety was transferred from the Department of Education to the NYPD in 1998.The school’s principal apparently indicated to the family that he had no authority to discipline O’Connell, who is an employee of the NYPD." The settlement comes as the City Council prepares to hold hearings next week on the Student Safety Act, which would require quarterly reporting by the DOE and NYPD to the City Council on a wide range of school safety issues.
Overly-aggressive policing of NYC schools has been a major bone of contention with the NYCLU, and the group distributes literature to students informing them of their rights when interacting with police in schools. As for Cruz, he told reporters yesterday, "Even though we settled and they tried to compensate for that, it's still not right; that scar is always going to be there."
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Let me get this straight... without provocation, the robocop kicked a door into his forehead causing laceration, and all he gets is 55k? Somweone should look into what was wrong wit his lawyer... anyone else would have been an instant millionaire to say the least.
A million dollars for a cut?
No wonder the City is broke.
Actually, that $55K is typical of what plaintiffs get for minor lawsuits. It's simpler for the City to pay $55k and not waste lawyers' time and risk a jury full of people who think you should get a million dollars for an accidentally cut forehead.
Had there been any indication of an accident, I'd tend to agree.. but where do you see any indication of an accident here? One day, when you're taking a ****, and some hyper cop-wanna-be kicks the door into your now lacerated (not just a cut, look it up), you too will be looking for more than 55k (especially when the city is involved).
its always an minor lawsuit, "accident" and someone is trying to game the system and no way worth a sweet million until your own kid is confronted by a guy known as ROBO-COP! in the bathroom.
bad lawyer, dumb clients. 55k must have sounded like hitting lotto, dont forget the required onethird for the man who made it happen.
55 grand for that?
Fuck that!
He should have gotten an apology and the cop fired.
That's all!
Fuck these scumbags killing our taxes with frivolous lawsuits.
Pieces of trash looking for a payout on the backs of the rest of us!
More to the point, when is Daniel O’Connell going to jail for attacking a child?