Mom Owed NYPD $710 For Damages To Police Car That Killed Son

[Hum]

In April 2012, Tamon Robinson was struck and killed by an NYPD police car after Robinson was allegedly caught stealing cobblestones from a public housing complex.

Six months later, Robinson's mother says the city is ordering the family to pay $710 to pay for the damages on the very car that killed her 27-year-old son.

45-year-old Laverne Dobbinson told The Daily News, "We?re still grieving, and this is like a slap in the face. They want my son to pay for damage to the vehicle that killed him. It?s crazy."

An attorney for the family filed an intent to sue the city and hopes to prevent the department from issuing any repairs to the vehicle as the case is still under investigation. "In my 40 years of practicing law in this city I have never seen anything as heartless as this," the lawyer told The News, referring to the bill sent to Tamon's family.

According to police, the car was stopped when Robinson ran into it. Witnesses, however, maintain the car hit Robinson directly.

A witness described the incident, claiming, "They hit him. He flew up and he came down. They backed the car up, and they told him to get up. People were yelling out their windows screaming at the cops, ?We saw what you did.? ?

Robinson was rushed to a nearby hospital where he fell into a coma. While unconscious, cops kept him handcuffed to the hospital bed. Six days later, he was declared brain dead and his family made the decision to take him off the respirator.

UPDATE: New York City has apologized for sending the bill.

source & video

[azspeedbullet]

wonder why the city was unable to bill the car insurance company for the damage instead of the mom

[chrisj1968]

wow hum, this is insane. kill someone and then charge the family. reminds me of how China kills a family member with a bullet to the back of the head and then bill the family for the bullet.

[Hum]

Remind me not to die in NYC. :s

[zhangm Supervisor]

There should not have been any attempt to repair the vehicle. As the story states, the issue is under investigation, and I can't see why the vehicle wouldn't be considered evidence.

[Rippleman]

if the person/family/estate is not responsible for cost, why should every citizen in the state pay for it?

[Growled Member]

So the NYPD doesn't have insurance on their cars now. Interesting.

[nekkidtruth]

if the person/family/estate is not responsible for cost, why should every citizen in the state pay for it?

Regardless of whether the estate should be held responsible or not, it very clearly states in the article that there were witnesses who saw the police were responsible for the damage. It's the responsibility of the police department since they caused the damage. Of course in the end, that means the citizens pay. This is something that should be taken up with the police department since it was their own carelessness that caused the damage to begin with.

[zhangm Supervisor]

Regardless of whether the estate should be held responsible or not, it very clearly states in the article that there were witnesses who saw the police were responsible for the damage. It's the responsibility of the police department since they caused the damage.

Eye witness accounts are astoundingly unreliable due to the nature of human memory and recall. There was no barn.

[Ottawa Gamerz]

u steal u get hit by a car its karma remember its a bitch

[Nightwind Hawk]

The article doesn't really talk about the amount they sued the NYPD for causing the death of this criminal....

[nekkidtruth]

Eye witness accounts are astoundingly unreliable due to the nature of human memory and recall. There was no barn.

Oh I agree witnesses can be unreliable, however it seems the city is already apologizing to the family. So it would look like in this particular case, the witnesses weren't as unreliable as it would seem some here believe.

[The Gunslinger]

According to police, the car was stopped when Robinson ran into it. Witnesses, however, maintain the car hit Robinson directly.

And the police wonder why they have a bad reputation...