Mark Moody said he was taking his usual nicotine break on the window ledge of his Peck Slip home on a hot August day with a cigarette in one hand and a cellphone in the other, a scant 12 feet off the ground. He was shocked when a police car rolled up and two cops jumped out.
“Are you about to commit suicide?” one cop asked.
“If I was going to commit suicide, this would be a pretty dumb place to do it,” the 40-year-old trial lawyer scoffed. “If I jumped from here, I’d just sprain my ankle.”
[...]
Before he knew it, a beefy officer was inside his apartment, lifting him out of his own living-room window from behind, Moody said. The cop slammed him on the living-room floor while another kneeled on top of him and cuffed him, he claimed. [...] The attorney was thrown into an ambulance and taken to Beth Israel Medical Center.The on-duty psychiatrist apologized before quickly discharging him, Moody said. “I talked to him for three minutes, and he said, ‘Look, I’m really sorry. I apologize on behalf of the city,’ ” Moody recalled.
[...]
Moody, who The Post found still takes his cigarette breaks sitting in his open window, sued the city and the police officers for $400,000 in damages on Dec. 8 in Manhattan federal court.
Animby–you get Plus One for St Augustine. I tried to find your personal info but it seems the Catholics haven’t gotten around to such things. Amusing list here though:
http://saints.sqpn.com/patron-saints-of-medical-conditions/
Every “Life Story” of these Saints is rather interesting. Holy Crap. Its good to be born free of this superstition.
Yea, Verily.
Bobbo – Thank you. I got a very good laugh from that list. Several, actually.
Who knew there were 32 patron saints for people with ague?
And how come there are four saints against breast cancer but only one for breast disease? (Agatha, she’s on both lists. Probably am early GBLT saintette.)
Augustine is on your list for eye diseases and eye problems. Wikipedia says: “He is the patron saint of brewers, printers, theologians, sore eyes, and a number of cities and dioceses.” I would think setting type after a few too many brews might cause many theologians to have sore eyes.
I’m going to go back and peruse the list some more. What fun! St Benedict of Nettle Rash…
“Are you about to commit suicide?”
“I’m smoking cigarettes, aren’t I?”
“Never mind.”
Good for him. Got get them… and the 400,000
#30 Bo.
Then, he could have killed himself by jumping off his couch if he did it right. So?
9,000 people die in falls in the bathroom each year. We don’t track how many people die of self-inflicted blunt force trauma (the category of killing yourself jumping off a building)but, it’s pretty rare. Handguns and ingesting drugs/poison are the leaders.
Die And==exactly so. Thank you. Unlike a fall on your head, that didn’t hurt too much did it?