Let this be lesson not to run into police cars

http://www.wpix.com/news/wpix-city-demands-brooklyn-mother-pay-damages-to-cop-car-involved-in-death-of-son-20121005,0,2911840.story

BROOKLYN, NY (PIX11)— Outrageous. Disgraceful. Unacceptable. Those are the words used by the lawyer of a Brooklyn mother who recently received a letter from a law firm representing the city, saying that she owes damages to the cop car that struck and killed her son.

"I started crying, it hurt me so bad, it really hurt me so bad," said Laverne Robinson on Friday.

In April, Robinson's son Tamon was struck and killed by a cop car. Police say they saw him stealing stones from a housing project in Brooklyn. The officers say they were using the car to block Tamon's escape from the building. But the unarmed 27-year-old somehow slammed into the front end of the car and suffered a deadly head injury.

Months later, on September 27th, a law firm representing the city, sent a letter to collect $710 in damages done to the cop car.

Overwhelmed, Robinson called attorney Sanford Rubenstein, who has represented victims in high profile cases against the city.

"It's a disgrace! How dare the City of New York demand payment for damage to a police vehicle in which the police officer is under investigation for a criminal act by the district attorney in Kings County!" exclaimed Rubenstein.

Rubenstein has already filed a notice of intent to file a wrongful death suit against the city, seeking $20 million in damages.

Rubenstein says he's waiting to file the actual lawsuit once the DA's office finishes its investigation.

"There are many who believe he was run down by this vehicle and that he didn't run into the vehicle," Rubenstein told reporters.

With all this mother is going through, this letter seemed to pour salt on an open wound.

"It's a form of disrespect. They have been disrespecting my family since the whole incident," said Robinson.

The law firm that sent the letter told PIX 11 it received the claim among a pile of claims and was not given any circumstances. "We did not even know Mr. Robinson was deceased," said a lawyer with the Offices of Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson, LLP. He added, "We have stopped the claim."

Late Friday, a spokesperson with NYC's Law Department sent this statement to PIX 11:

"We regret that Mr. Robinson's family received a collection notice. The notice was sent in error. We recognize that this involves a tragic case."

At least they dropped the claim.

Wow. Spending a couple of minutes reviewing the cases doesn't seem like a waste anymore, I guess.

so the kid ran into a cop car while committing a crime.. admit your kid wasn't a perfect angel and pay up..

her kid was 27... why should she be responsible for what he did?

Police say they saw him stealing stones from a housing project in Brooklyn.

Umm... what?

Lot of decorative stones in the projects? "admit your kid wasn't a perfect angel and pay up", what?

Plenty of strange stuff in this thread.

pres589 wrote: Lot of decorative stones in the projects? "admit your kid wasn't a perfect angel and pay up", what? Plenty of strange stuff in this thread.

life is hard... stupid should have consequences.

In reply to novaderrik:

Yeah... like if a cop hits you with his car, your mother may get a bill for body work. Quite the consequence, and all for stealing some rocks in the projects of NYC.

p.s. oh wait and in this lesson on consequences, you're dead.

Hmm..

I was ready to jump on the "too bad, so-sad" bandwagon. Then I googled "Tamon Robinson".

There's two sides to the story guys, he has no prior criminal record, had a real job and collected and sold scrap on the side to make ends meet.

Apparently he had permission from the building manager to take the bricks he was removing.

Granted, he did run from the cops but who knows what happened.

Normally I'll side with the police on something like this but when you start digging, it sounds like the NYPD screwed up pretty bad.

You run from the cops and get killed that's your fault.

I don't understand how the mother of a 27yo man can get a bill for damage to a car that hit said 27yo son.

I'm not faulting any cops for what happened, I'm faulting whichever idiot "mistakenly" sent a bill to the next of kin.

I don't know, does kind of sound like the cop ran him down. I can't imagine Usain Bolt could run fast enough into a car to kill himself.

nicksta43 wrote: I'm not faulting any cops for what happened, I'm faulting whichever idiot "mistakenly" sent a bill to the next of kin.

Bill was probably sent addressed to him (person sending it not knowing he was dead) or his estate. Next of kin is not responsible for debts of the deceased.

Link to an actual article to stop some speculation:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/06/nyregion/woman-charged-for-damages-to-police-car-that-struck-tamon-robinson.html?_r=0