Hostage victim sues hero cop for saving her life

[chanel]

She was grabbed by a desperate parolee and who held her with a knife to her throat in Woodbridge Center Mall until a police officer shot and killed the man.

Now the woman, Ellen Shane, 62, of Carteret, plans to sue the township for $5 million, claiming it failed to protect public safety and that she was injured as a result of the officer’s acts.

Both Shane and her husband, Ronald Shane, "are suffering from post traumatic stress syndrome and both have been dramatized from this incident," according to the tort claim notice filed by their lawyer, David Corrigan of Eatontown.

Woman held at knifepoint in Woodbridge Center Mall plans to sue township for $5M | NJ.com

Scumbags. Perhaps next time the cop should let the kidnapper slit her throat.

Comments?

 

[California Girl]

Stupid, greedy, ungrateful old hag. That's my comment.

 

[chanel]

I'm just afraid that if this goes in her favor, that it will have a chilling effect on the police. Who wants to risk shooting a perp if the unharmed victim would prefer he didn't?

Perhaps in the future they can ask the hostages to sign a release before they shoot.

 

[Swagger]

Stupid, greedy, ungrateful old hag. That's my comment.

Endorsed.

I really, really hate stories like this. It's indicative of how abuse of litigation has manifested itself in an increasingly greedy and self-centred society. People should be encouraged to spit on these creatures when they see them on the street.

 

[AVG-JOE]

Money!
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkRIbUT6u7Q]"Money" - Liza Minnelli, Joel Grey - YouTube[/ame]
It makes the world go 'round!

 

[chanel]

Unfortunately NJ is the lawsuit capital of the world. And most likely they'll settle.

Everyone acknowledges that property taxes in New Jersey are crushing. Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester), Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver, (D-Essex) and Gov. Chris Christie have been vocal about the need to address the property tax crisis New Jersey has been battling for a generation. There are many reasons for the high tab we pay for local government services. And disagreements about public school funding, contracts, pensions, benefits and shared services are all but assured as each party makes its case.

Yet there is at least one cost-driver that's relatively uncontroversial but has been nearly absent from the debate: we need to get a handle on lawsuits against our local governments.

Unfortunately, lawsuits are part of municipal budgets' new normal in New Jersey. The Municipal Excess Liability Joint Fund, which is the largest insurer of local governments in New Jersey, reports that our towns' and cities' litigation costs have increased 104 percent over the past ten years. Most of this increase occurred in just the past five. That’s largely because trial lawyers -- like the ones you see on TV instructing you to call their 1-800 number if you’ve been hurt by "anything" -- have learned that local governments are an easy target.

Most towns have only a municipal attorney, not a large legal department of in-house lawyers, at their disposal. Legal work is frequently contracted out to more expensive private firms, particularly if it’s highly specialized. Needless to say, it’s expensive. You and your neighbors end up paying the cost of the settlement or claim and attorney's fees -- often for both parties. Plaintiffs' attorneys know from experience that sometimes it’s not financially worth it for a municipality to fight the more frivolous claims at all.

As a result of this new normal in the municipal realm, we now surrender over $350 million from our local budgets each year in liability costs. This is especially painful, because this comes directly from the pool of resources our local governments spend on educating our children, maintaining public safety and responding to emergencies. And personal injury claims account for $200 million of that total.

NJ Spotlight | Op-Ed: The High (and Hidden) Costs of Lawsuits against Local Governments

 

[The Professor]

She was grabbed by a desperate parolee and who held her with a knife to her throat in Woodbridge Center Mall until a police officer shot and killed the man.

Now the woman, Ellen Shane, 62, of Carteret, plans to sue the township for $5 million, claiming it failed to protect public safety and that she was injured as a result of the officer’s acts.

Both Shane and her husband, Ronald Shane, "are suffering from post traumatic stress syndrome and both have been dramatized from this incident," according to the tort claim notice filed by their lawyer, David Corrigan of Eatontown.

Woman held at knifepoint in Woodbridge Center Mall plans to sue township for $5M | NJ.com

Scumbags. Perhaps next time the cop should let the kidnapper slit her throat.

Comments?

Since you were kind enough to ask, yes, I do have a comment.

OK, let's see if I got this right: The woman was not traumatized when “a convicted robber wanted for a parole violation, was fleeing police....grabbed her by her hair, pulled her away from her husband, held a knife to her throat and dragged her to the Sears store” where he threatened to slit her throat. The source of all her trauma (compensable trauma) is the result of the policeman who shot her assailant thereby ending her ordeal? I must be missing something. It can't have anything to do with the fact that her attacker is penniless while the city has deep pockets.

I wonder how her therapists are going to convince a jury that the policeman's actions, and not her abduction and direct threat on her life, were the proximate cause of the alleged injuries to her psyche. Oh, wait.....a jury composed of lawsuit-happy, cop-hating, public school educated Americans.... Looks like Ellen Shane has got a winner here, folks.

 

[bodecea]

She was grabbed by a desperate parolee and who held her with a knife to her throat in Woodbridge Center Mall until a police officer shot and killed the man.

Now the woman, Ellen Shane, 62, of Carteret, plans to sue the township for $5 million, claiming it failed to protect public safety and that she was injured as a result of the officer’s acts.

Both Shane and her husband, Ronald Shane, "are suffering from post traumatic stress syndrome and both have been dramatized from this incident," according to the tort claim notice filed by their lawyer, David Corrigan of Eatontown.

Woman held at knifepoint in Woodbridge Center Mall plans to sue township for $5M | NJ.com

Scumbags. Perhaps next time the cop should let the kidnapper slit her throat.

Comments?

Well, I hope she loses and has to pay court costs.

 

[RoadVirus]

Now the woman, Ellen Shane, 62, of Carteret, plans to sue the township for $5 million, claiming it failed to protect public safety and that she was injured as a result of the officer’s acts.

Listen you whiny little *****, whatever "injuries" you suffered as a result of the cops' actions is probably a papercut compared to what the psycho would've done to your throat.

I hope the judge laughs you out of the courtroom.