$4.3-Million Award to Mugger Wounded by N.Y. Police Upheld
NEW YORK — A state appeals court has upheld a $4.3-million award to a man who was shot by police and paralyzed while mugging an elderly man in a subway station.
The state Supreme Court’s Appellate Division on Thursday upheld a jury’s finding that Bernard McCummings was the victim of excessive police force. The damages must be paid by the city and the New York City Transit Authority.
McCummings served 2 1/2 years in prison for the 1984 mugging. His lawyer, David Breitbart, said that even though McCummings was shot while mugging somebody, “he shouldn’t have been sentenced to life in a wheelchair.”
Wallace Gossett, a Transit Authority attorney, said his office would seek permission to appeal.
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