In the small Orange County hamlet Deer Park, the police hire part time officers. One of their part time officers also works full time as a corrections officer. The Deer Park police department had no rules or regulations limiting when their officers could work if they had a full time job. The part time police officer had just finished a 12 hour shift as a correction officer and immediately began a six hour shift for the Deer Park police department. The exhausted officer was driving in a Deer Park cruiser at 10:00 at night when he drifted off the road. Walking home from his job in Hugenot on the shoulder of the road was our client. He was unable to get out of the way of the police car. The Deer Park police officer claimed our client jumped in front of his vehicle in an effort to commit suicide because he was an Iraq war veteran who served two tours of duty. Fortunately, the State Police arrived and investigated the crash and found the Deer Park officer struck our client when our client was walking on the shoulder. Knocked unconscious from the impact, our client was air-lifted to Westchester County Medical Center where he was admitted for several days with a traumatic brain injury, a fractured skull and broken bones in his shoulder. Being the fighter that he is, our client worked hard and made a good recovery. The police department refused to accept any responsibility. The case was submitted to binding arbitration and the Judge found the Deer Park police department 100% at fault and awarded a total of $765,000. The case was handled by Managing Partner Andrew Finkelstein, Elyssa Fried and Trial Partner Ron Rosenkranz.
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