A man who was arrested by Hempstead Village Police last year is suing the village and the police department for $5 million, calling the use of a stun gun, then shooting him with a handgun "excessive" force.
Patrick Alexis, 31, who lives at 330 Washington Street, made headlines last March. Two days after arresting him, the Nassau County Police Department passed out a press release announcing their response to 9-1-1 calls at 4:50 a.m. about a "violent" man inside the Hempstead apartment building where Alexis lives.
After the press release was sent around, News 12 used it for a story.
"A man who was arrested was allegedly threatening officers in Hempstead," reported one news anchor. The other news anchor added, "Police tell us things quickly escalated when they responded to a call early Saturday morning..."
"It's a wild wild world," says a Hempstead woman on camera. Then the reporter begins: "Neighbors reacting to a police-involved shooting ..."
The entire news story is based on that press release from the police.
Hempstead detectives, says the reporter, say there was "yelling" inside the apartment when they got there. They say a man warned them "he had a knife and a gun" and "was going to shoot" them.
Then, police say, the man "opened the door with the knife in his hand" -- apparently waving it around ("menacing") -- like he was about to use it. So police pulled out a Taser and shot him.
But Tasers don't always work. It takes practice. This cop missed.
The "subject [was] still holding the knife ... threatening" them causing one officer to "discharge his firearm one time" i.e., shoot the guy with the knife.
Alexis was hit by one bullet in the "torso". He spent the night in the ER and was arraigned in his hospital bed, court records show.
Now he wants to get paid: $1 million in "actual" damages, $3 million "punitive" damages, and $1 million for the lawyer -- Martin Ginsberg of Woodbury.
Alexis's version of the story is brief. His legal complaint states police were "effectuating" his "arrest" and "did taser and shoot him"; it was "an excessive and unreasonable use of physical force" that violated his Constitutional right to freedom from cruel and unusual punishment.
The Village of Hempstead and the Hempstead Police Department have not been served yet. A spokesman for the police said police do not wear bodycams in that village.
This is not the first time a Long Island police department has been hit with an excessive force lawsuit. In 2017, a Roosevelt family won $8 million over an incident that began with a 9-1-1 call asking for help with her adult, bipolar son. Police arrived and shot him with a stun gun to subdue him.
After that, presumably, the man was more cooperative.
Attorney Frederick Brewington filed that successful civil lawsuit.
