Posted on 10/06/2012 9:48:13 AM PDT by Altariel
Tamon Robinson was in coma after struck by cop vehicle
TAMON ROBINSON tried to outrun cops, but couldn’t.
The 27-year-old coffee barista died in April after being struck by an NYPD squad car that began chasing him as he swiped paver stones in the predawn light at his Brooklyn housing project.
Now his mom’s being chased anew, hounded by a collection agency hired by the city with a cruel final demand, the Daily News has learned.
The city has ordered her to pay the $710 cost of repairing the police car that killed her boy.
“We’re still grieving, and this is like a slap in the face,” Robinson’s mom, Laverne Dobbinson, 45, told The News.
“They want my son to pay for damage to the vehicle that killed him. It’s crazy.”
The blood-money letter dated Sept. 27 and mailed to her son seeks $710 for “property damage to a vehicle owned by the New York Police Department.”
It also threatens to slap the family with a lawsuit if the claim isn’t paid.
“Isn’t there respect for the dead?” asked John Torrence, 50, the victim’s uncle.
Police said Robinson was fleeing after being caught red-handed stealing the decorative stones from the grounds of the Bayview Houses in Canarsie on April 12.
He ran toward his building on E. 102nd St., but he was struck by the vehicle driven by Officer Volkan Uretener.
Robinson slipped into a coma and never regained consciousness, dying six days later of blunt impact head injuries.
The city medical examiner ruled his death an accident.
A spokesman for Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes said Thursday that the incident remains under investigation. The NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau was also probing allegations from witnesses that Robinson was deliberately mowed down.
Photos taken of the squad car show a large indentation on the front, left-hand side of the vehicle.
Dobbinson’s lawyer, Sanford Rubenstein, has filed a notice of intent to sue the city, and he’s warned the NYPD not to do any repairs. Any modifications to the car would be a violation of a court order to preserve it as evidence in the pending criminal investigation.
Rubenstein called the $710 bill a “disgrace.”
“In my 40 years of practicing law in this city I have never seen anything as heartless as this,” he said.
A man who identified himself as a paralegal for the law firm of Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson, which was hired by the city to collect the money, said he is barred by federal law from discussing the notice with anyone but Robinson or a representative of his family.
An NYPD spokesman did not return a call or email seeking comment.
Dobbinson said her family has been dismayed from the start by the lack of respect shown by the city. As Robinson lay brain dead in Brookdale Medical Center, cops kept him shackled to his bed under police guard.
Dobbinson said she had to get permission from the NYPD to visit her son’s bedside — and was permitted to stay for only 20 minutes.
In a made-for-movie twist, on the day of Robinson’s funeral, cops broke down the door of the family’s apartment — and later acknowledged they had executed a search warrant at the wrong location. The city repaired the door the same day, according to Dobbinson.
At the time of his death, Robinson worked at a Connecticut muffin shop in Fort Greene, but also tried to make extra money hawking items, including the paving stones, to scrap dealers, his mother said.
Dobbinson suggested that instead of repairing the damaged squad car, NYPD officials should instead make sure it’s never again returned to patrol.
“Just like those officers shouldn’t be on the street, either,” she said.
An adversarial media used to use public pressure to keep police departments from misbehaving, but that was before the media realized they and the police were on the same team.
Sounds like China, where they will bill the family of an executed criminal the cost of the bullet used to kill the criminal.
I take it you believe it is acceptable for The State to charge one adult for the debt of that person’s adult child?
If instead of relying on this rag for info, people read the New York Times, they would know that the law firm that sent the letter and the NYPD legal department have dropped the case. It was a form letter, no one bothered to inquire about how the vehicle was damaged, and as soon as they found out they withdrew the request for payment. It is really astonishing how carefully the article is written to create maximum indignation.
The REAL story: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/06/nyregion/woman-charged-for-damages-to-police-car-that-struck-tamon-robinson.html?_r=0
But naturally, not many will bother to read it, they would rather get all self-righteous and scream and holler. /facepalm/
Is she the executrix of his estate?
“They want my son to pay for damage to the vehicle that killed him....”
If he was in the process of committing a crime and fleeing from the police he's legally responsible for anything like this that might happen during a chase.So it's not *her* they're going after,it's his estate.And assuming that she was his closest relative it stands to reason that under NY State estate laws she would be the executrix of his estate.
The son was 27 years old. His estate should pay the damages to the cop car. The family is probably the trustee of the estate and therefore has a responsibility to pay if the son had sufficient assets.
However if the son had no money, then the family cannot be held liable, unless they were somehow legal guardians of this 27 year old.
Are you saying the executor of an estate in New York is personally liable for the debts of the estate?
That makes no sense.
For what it’s worth........
City Tried to Bill Dead Man for Damage to Police Car That Struck and Killed Him
Late last month, Laverne Dobbinson received a letter, addressed to her son, from a law firm notifying him that it had been retained by the City of New York to collect money for damages to a police car. ..........
On Friday, the law firm handling the collection effort said it had formally dropped the effort. Paul J. Browne, a spokesman for the Police Department, said his agency did not send out the letter and referred the matter to the city’s Law Department.
“We don’t know any instance where we send letters like that,” he said. “I’m not sure how it came out.”
Kate Ahlers, a spokeswoman for the Law Department, said the notice had been sent in error after her department received a referral from a unit of the Police Department. “We regret that Mr. Robinson’s family received a collection notice,” she said in a statement, adding, “We recognize that this involves a tragic case.”
.........
end snips
If all of the facts were inserted into the story it wouldn’t fit their narrative.
OK,so on the one hand you have the Post and on the other you have the Times.The pertinent questions are...1) did the dead guy attempt to steal?...2) if so,did he then attempt to flee from the police?....3) if so,was the cop acting in a lawful,reasonable way when the guy was struck?
If the answer to all three questions is "yes" then he,the dead guy,is legally responsible for the damage to the police car.Of course the City of New York might have been wise,for PR reasons,to "eat" the $700 under the circumstances even if it had the law on its side.But that's another matter.
No,as executrix of his estate she would have had a legal obligation to ensure that all his lawful debts were paid before any of his assets were distributed to his legal heir(s),those heirs having been established either in a lawfully executed will he may have written or under New York State's laws concerning those who die "intestate".
All very true to the best of my understanding.However,how many 27 year olds are there who don't have a "net worth" of $700?
If the Chicoms kill you, your family has to pay for one bullet. If NYPD do it .....
Probably more than we'd like to know. This guy was stealing from a cemetery.
It's a reason to chase somebody.And unless the cop was acting in some completely reckless fashion the dead guy is legally responsible for any untoward events that occur during the chase.
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