Smoke Break Gone Wrong

[El Presidente]

..New York window ledge smoker sparked overblown suicide police response By Kathianne Boniello of the New York Post

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/breakin...f-1225973676683

A PAIR of blundering police officers mistook a lawyer's cigarette break on his window ledge for a suicide attempt.

Manhattan man Mark Moody sued the city and the police officers for $400,000 in damages earlier this month after he was wrestled to the floor of his apartment, handcuffed and taken by ambulance to a downtown psychiatric ward, The New York Post reported today, citing evidence in a lawsuit.

The 40-year-old trial lawyer said he was sat out enjoying his regular nicotine hit on the sill of his second-floor apartment window, a scant 3.5m off the ground, on a hot August day when a police car arrived and two police officers jumped out.

"Are you about to commit suicide?" one officer asked.

"If I was going to commit suicide, this would be a pretty dumb place to do it," the smoker replied, adding. "If I jumped from here, I'd just sprain my ankle."

But the officers, who never said what prompted their concern, insisted Mr Moody come downstairs.

The lawyer refused, explaining he was sitting on the sill so he wouldn't get smoke in the apartment, and hailed a cabby friend over to vouch that the window was his regular smoking spot. But three ambulances and four other patrol cars pulled up before the cabby could move.

Mr Moody said that before he knew it, a beefy officer was inside his apartment, lifting him out of his own living-room window from behind. The lawyer was then shifted into an ambulance and taken to the Beth Israel Medical Centre.

But Mr Moody said the on-duty psychiatrist apologised before quickly discharging him.

"I talked to him for three minutes, and he said, 'Look, I'm really sorry. I apologise on behalf of the city,'" Mr Moody recalled.

NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said, "Police responded to a 911 call of an emotionally disturbed person at the location. When police arrived, they observed the male sitting on the ledge talking erratically. Police Emergency Service officers were called, and the person was removed to the hospital for observation."

[ZAZ]

Wow.....

[anacostiakat]

He is lucky he wasnt shot like fifty time.

[Dbone]

LOL, Mr. Moody

mood·y   

[moo-dee]

–adjective, mood·i·er, mood·i·est.

1. given to gloomy, depressed, or sullen moods; ill-humored.

Seems appropriate.

[dicko]

I can't believe stuff like this happens

[Warren]

I can't believe stuff like this happens

In a world where governments are trying to regulate everything you do I can believe it.

[rfenst]

Now we know why we shouldn't smoke cigarets!

[NitrousPurger]

i have to say this has happened to me as well. not including the ambulance ride. Last year at school i was up on the top floor of a parking garage smoking a cigar becasue it was the only place i knew where i could have some privacy. Im up there for about an hour smoking and a police car pulls up next to me as im nearing the end of my smoke. The cop gets out and puts his flash light on me and asks how long i had been up there. I say about an hour and he starts giving me crap and that hes never heard of anyone taking that long to smoke a cigar He then checks my mouth and asks if a cigar was all i had been smoking that night LOL. After a while he told me that they got some calls from concerned citizens thinking I was a jumper! I appologize and say i will come down so no one would be scared anymore LOL as im walking down ANOTHER cop drives up to where i was smoking lol im just glad they didnt tase me!

[adic88]

Really overzealous cops. 4 police cars to stop 1 jumper? seems like overkill to me.

[samb]

Really overzealous cops. 4 police cars to stop 1 jumper? seems like overkill to me.

Its not. Its a team effort, and its for the safety of the officer. If a jumper decides to open fire on one officer, theres a swarm of others to do what the jumper hopes for most. This can also be a method of committing suicide, death by police, where one shoots at a cop, which forces them to then in turn shot him. Takes the burden of guilt off of the victim if somebody kills him, instead of himself.

Also, in the case of a suicide, they take these things are taken very seriously. It IS overkill if its somebody just smoking a cigar, but how does the officer or the initial caller know this? they dont! Often times, suicide threats are made by individuals with serious mental illness, which has links to suicidal thoughts, and the mental subject is one of the most daunting to cops, because there not as predictable and they may act in greater magnitude if they feel threatened. Not overkill at all!! Of course of the SWAT team shows up to stop a cigar smoker and then beats them within an inch of their life, Id reconsider my statement.