Mother of man killed by NYPD gets billed for dent in police car created by her son’s body

Justice for Tamon R. on FB

Madison Ruppert, Contributor
Activist Post

Absurd actions from the New York Police Department (NYPD) has come to be expected given that they have been busted spying far outside of their jurisdiction, establishing offices around the world including Israel, arresting people for dancing, labeling people “professional agitators” for filming them, engaging in widespread surveillance and even throwing an officer in a psychiatric ward for reporting corruption.

Yet it seems that they are trying to one-up their own insanity by actually sending the mother of someone they killed with one of their police cars a $710 repair bill to cover the damage his body did to their cruiser.

Yes, you read that right, the NYPD actually sent a bill to fix the dent left by now dead 23-year-old Tamon Robinson, who was killed by an NYPD vehicle in Brooklyn in April, to his still-mourning family.

The incident occurred when Robinson was caught digging up paving stones outside his home in Bayview Houses in the Canarsie neighborhood of Brooklyn.

Robinson was fleeing police when the car smashed into him causing serious blunt impact head injures which left him in a coma from the moment of impact. Robinson died six days later, never waking up from the coma.

According to his mother, Robinson was working at a muffin shop while also trying to make additional money by hawking items like paving stones to scrap dealers.

The bill, which the British Daily Mail characterized as “a brutal blood-money demand,” was dated September 27, with the reason for the $710 being listed as “property damage to a vehicle owned by the New York Police Department.”

The bill added that the family would be facing a lawsuit if they failed to pay within 10 days of receiving it.

“We’re still grieving, and this is like a slap in the face,” said Laverne Dobbinson, Robinson’s 45-year-old mother, to the New York Daily News.

“They want my son to pay for damage to the vehicle that killed him,” Dobbinson added. “It’s crazy.”

Dobbinson sought out her own legal advice and she said she intends to sue New York City as well. Her lawyer, Sanford Rubenstein, dubbed the repair bill a “disgrace” in his filing.

“In my 40 years of practicing law in this city I have never seen anything as heartless as this,” Rubenstein said to the New York Daily News.

Rubenstein also called on the NYPD to refrain from repairing any of the damages to the vehicle since it would be a violation of a court order to preserve it as evidence in the ongoing criminal investigation.

Dobbinson’s frustration with the NYPD does not just stem from the $710 bill, indeed she also claims that the treatment of her son in the aftermath of being hit by the NYPD vehicle was far from acceptable.

She alleges that while he was lying in bed brain-dead he was shackled to the bed under police guard. Dobbinson said that she was only allowed him to visit for 20 minutes.

To make matters even worse, police “smashed their way into the family’s apartment,” as the Daily Mail put it, on the day of Robinson’s funeral. The police later claimed that they simply had the wrong address on a search warrant.

According to Dobbinson, the city actually repaired her door the same day.

Since the death of her son Dobbinson has relentlessly sought the arrest of the officers involved. She has staged multiple rallies and demonstrations towards that end along with a Facebook memorial page.

While the New York City medical examiner ruled that Robinson’s death was an accident, his death is still under investigation by the Brooklyn District Attorney and the NYPD Internal Affairs Bureau.

The investigation likely continues due to the fact that witnesses allege that Robinson was actually deliberately run over by the NYPD officers.

While the Daily Mail reports, “New York City officials have since apologized for sending the collection letter,” the New York Daily News reports, “An NYPD spokesman did not return a call or email seeking comment.”

UPDATE: The New York Times has reported that the law firm behind issuing the bill “ceased collection” after learning of Robinson’s death. “We were not aware of the circumstances,” said a lawyer for Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson. “This type of receivable is not something we pursue when the alleged debtor is deceased.” In addition, the family’s lawyer, Rubenstein, has alleged that there is a police coverup under way, saying the “head injuries were inconsistent with Tamon running into a car.”

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This article first appeared at End the Lie.

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