Jury awards $2.5 Mio. to man brutalized by police as a boy

A New York State court jury in Bronx County awarded a verdict of $2.5 Million in a police brutality (§1983) case against the City of New York and two New York City Police Department officers. The award was made to Luis Figueroa, 27, a 13-year-old boy at the time of the incident. The case was pending for 12 years.

The defendant officer hit, stomped, pistol-whipped (Fx right 5th metacarpal with mild deformity; "hole" in head; split lip), arrested, and prosecuted Luis, who was represented at trial by Michael R. Scolnick, an NPAP member from Rockland County, New York. Scolnick retained a forensic psychiatrist who testified that the boy's PTSD was a substantial causing factor of Luis’s later assaultive criminal behavior, counted as an additional item of damages. The evidence at trial included photos of Luis at age 13.

The trial involved four days of evidence, eight witnesses (including an orthopedic surgeon and the forensic psychiatrist), as well as a hospital’s orthopedic and psychiatric records. The jury awarded $2,500,000. His lawyer asked for $2,000,000 in summation. The defendants final settlement offer was $500,000, which was rejected.

contact us | sitemap