Photo by Heidi Stubner.
June 18, 2018 Weather: Sunny, with a high of 90 degrees. There’s also an air quality alert.
Notices:
Hamilton actors and experts talk to Adam Gopnik and more local events this week are on our calendar.
The mayor will hold a town hall on Wednesday June 27 at 6:30 p.m. at PS 191, 300 West 61st Street. For more information, click here.
ThriveNYC trains New Yorkers in Mental Health First Aid. “They offer a free 8-hour public education program to train participants to better identify the unique risk factors and warning signs of mental health problems in adults over the age of 65. If you wish to get trained, on August 1, ThriveNYC will offer its “Older Adults” class at the Interchurch Center (475 Riverside Drive at W. 120th Street). To learn more or sign up, visit mhfa.cityofnewyork.us, scroll down to the “Older Adults” class, and click the circle to the left of the “Older Adults” logo.” Thanks to Bloomingdale Aging in Place for the tip.
News:
A man who attended a Black Lives Matter protest is planning to sue the city for $5 million, because of alleged police brutality at a rally three months ago. “A video of the confrontation shows five cops descending on sign-carrying protester Walter (Hawk) Newsome — with one landing two roundhouse punches to his head and the others wrestling him to the street during a protest march at Broadway and W. 61st St.” The city’s Law Department declined to comment.”
An 82-year-old man named Conrado Aleman was arrested for rubbing himself against a woman on the 1 train, and it’s not the first time he’s been arrested for the crime. “Police have arrested an 82-year-old man they say rubbed his privates against a woman riding a No. 1 train on the Upper West Side, officials said Tuesday. It’s the senior’s fifth sex abuse arrest in two years, sources said. Cops grabbed Conrado Aleman just before 6 p.m. on Friday, after he rubbed up against a 27-year-old Manhattan woman on the crowded No. 1 train approaching the W. 72nd St./Broadway stop, authorities said.”
A local woman severely hurt by a shopping cart won a large jury award. “An Upper West Side philanthropist who was nearly killed by a shopping cart that was tossed by teens from an overpass won a $45.2 million jury award Friday — and said she plans to donate a portion of the money to a local youth center. Victim Marion Hedges, 53, shook with emotion when the verdict was announced — but she didn’t shed a tear because a side effect of her brain damage is the inability to cry.”
Central Park has another updated playground. “Central Park’s smallest playground, and one of the most scenic, reopened Friday after months of renovations. The Bernard Family Playground, designed for kids ages 2 to 5, sits on the northeast corner of the park, across from the Harlem Meer.”
Matthew Lee has been indicted for the murder of Professor Young Kun Kim at a Citibank ATM on 96th Street. Lee has pleaded not guilty.
It’s time for the city to have a greater voice in a subway overhaul, says Council Member Helen Rosenthal.
Planters on West End Ave between 62nd/63rd appear to be sinking into the ground. Steam escaping on the sides cc @westsiderag pic.twitter.com/B2VCAiiKho
— Justin Soffer (@JustinSoffer) June 15, 2018
The shopping cart verdict is just amazing.: “The six-person jury found the teens 10 percent responsible for Hedges’ injuries while assigning 65 percent of the fault to the mall and 25 percent to Planned Security Services.”
So the hooligans that actually picked up and threw the cart over the atrium are only 10% responsible? Disgraceful verdict.
You wouldn’t be saying “disgraceful” if you were the victim. She deserves it, and given her altruistic approach to life after such horrible act I would agree with the judge and the verdict. However, the kids that did this should have to repay their debt to society by having to do extensive community service. Particularly in the service of victims of violent crimes. Perhaps they are, the article doesn’t say.
Jury may have done it that way to allow her to actually see some of the judgement. The kids parts don’t have any $$$ but the Mall and the security co have insurance polices
Yes, the boys’ act was reprehensible. They were 12- and 13-years-old at the time of the crime, and I wonder if their being juveniles figured into what percentage of the award was their responsibility. The total award came to $45.2 million, which makes the boys responsible for $4,520,000. Still a pretty hefty fine.
An account in the NYT offers more detail: “…Ms. Hedges and her family sued the mall and Planned Security Service, which was under contract to secure the mall’s common areas, including the walkway where the boys pushed the shopping cart over the edge. On Friday, the six-person jury decided to award about $41 million in damages to Ms. Hedges, $2.5 million to her son and $2 million to her husband. It said the boys who threw the cart — ages 12 and 13 at the time of the injury — were 10 percent responsible, the security company was 25 percent responsible and the mall was 65 percent responsible.”
if you read the article, you will see that this was the viewpoint of the victim. so that was probably reflected in her lawyers presentation of the case.
Get off your high horse – the victim is more than happy with the outcome and that should be enough for us. She said she never blamed the kids.
Plus, I doubt the kids (12 and 13 years old) would be able to come up with the full $45 million.
ridiculous
It was a part of the mall, after all. And here’s a quote from the NY Post: “Hedges suffered severe brain injuries when the cart knocked her to the ground. But she never blamed Jeovanni Rosario, 13, and Raymond Hernandez, 12, who were behind the incident. Both teens were sentenced to time in juvenile facilities.
“I just want to be able to do something with the money that helps kids in Harlem, I really do,” Hedges said after the verdict, specifying that she’d like to support the Johnson Community Center on East 113th Street.
“We want to help Harlem kids have a chance to do something besides throw a shopping cart on a boring Sunday afternoon,” she said.
The judge was wowed by the Manhattan mom’s attitude throughout the case.“I think you have shown us all how to live in the face of adversity,” Justice Carmen St George had said at the end of the trial.
Agree!
It is ridiculous. And the victim never even blamed to kids that did it. According to her, they were just bored underprivileged kids with nothing else to do. Don’t blame the perps, blame society.
I know, how inconvenient. It’s so much easier to throw them in a hole and forget about them. (Just in case, this is sarcasm.)
I am no lawyer, just a sometime juror. I think one reason the kids were assigned only 10% of the responsibility by the jury is because the woman would have collected no money from them.
My guess why the jury allocated like that is that they knew that the plaintiff would not get any money from the kids, although they should not have done that.
Did the brats who threw the shopping cart at least get jail time??? Hopefully they did!
If you read the article, it says “Both teens were sentenced to time in juvenile facilities.”
Guess you’re on a different side than the victim and the Court.
How about they give that pervert 5 kicks to the groin 5 times a day for the next 5 days and we’ll see if he does it a 6th time.
Recommended read:
Eighth Amendment to the Constitution
Much better response than I was getting ready to write.