Huge Ruling Overturned
Justice Prevails in the Big Apple
By Daniel Muniz

Darryl Barnes made history when a jury in New York City awarded him the gargantuan amount of $76 million in a police brutality lawsuit for pain and suffering due to severe spinal injuries. In 1988, Barnes was shot and permanently paralyzed from the waist down by an off-duty police officer.

For many activists who denounce law enforcement, the gigantic award was a vindication of their efforts.

However, there was always a slight problem to this case.

When the incident occurred, Darryl Barnes was running around with a Tec-9 semiautomatic pistol. When off-duty cop Franz Jerome confronted Barnes and identified himself as a police officer, Barnes ran off and a foot chase ensued. Shortly afterwards, Barnes shot at the cop with his submachine gun. Jerome immediately returned fire which struck Barnes resulting in the serious spinal injuries.

Those facts are not in dispute.

Incidentally, Barnes even pleaded guilty to the charge of first-degree attempted assault with a deadly weapon. However, a very lenient court sentenced him only to five years of probation even though he was in the process of trying to kill a police officer while being armed with a submachine gun.

Barnes also belonged to a vehemently anti-white, anti-law enforcement organization called the Five Percenters. This group advocates violence to police officers and practices violent resistance to arrests. The people in the Five Percenters are not exactly altar boys when it comes to confronting cops.

Also, Barnes insists that he simply “found” the submachine gun lying on the ground so he decided to pick it up.

For a city that abhors guns and has one of the strictest gun control laws in the country, the sentencing that Barnes received was nothing more than a slap on the wrist.

Apparently, trying to kill a cop is not that big of a crime in New York City even though Barnes pleaded guilty to a very serious offense involving the use of a gun.

However, a police officer shooting at a hoodlum is a big deal for activists.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of idealists who subscribe to a “hug a thug” philosophy in which society in general and law enforcement in particular is the abuser and the violent hood is the victim. Under this kind of mentality, a criminal is absolved of any kind of wrongdoing by these well-intentioned activists because it is not their fault.

But New York City is not alone.

In many cities, there is always a trial lawyer who is willing to take a client like Barnes even if he was in the process of committing a violent crime. It happens all the time. In my hometown of San Antonio Texas, the families of loved ones who have been killed by police officers file lawsuits against the city all the time. It is totally irrelevant if the loved one was a violent thug who was attacking a cop.

Somehow, if a hoodlum points a gun at a police officer or attacks him, it is the fault of law enforcement if the assailant is maimed or killed. That is a perverted way at looking at justice.

Fortunately, sanity has prevailed.

In a re-trial, the award was reduced to a still staggering sum of $51 million but the trial judge sliced it down to a meager $10 million which was still more than what Barnes ever deserved. And just now, the New York Supreme Court's Appellate Division in a 5-0 decision rejected the lawsuit and threw out any award for pain and suffering.

The lawsuit itself was an assault against law and order which endangers law enforcement. When worse comes to worse, the police has to use lethal force as a last resort and it is not anything that a cop wants to do if he or she can avoid it. But when it comes to stopping violence, oftentimes deadly force cannot be avoided.

However, this development is a tremendous victory for New York City. Instead of rolling over and forking out this preposterous sum, the city aggressively fought it. Darryl Barnes is a thug who was trying to scam the Big Apple and it is great news that he is not going to get a single dime.

Although victories like this do not happen all that often, they are quite refreshing when they do occur. Perhaps this ruling will encourage other cities to keep fighting these shysters and their greedy trial lawyers.

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