After a drunken Queens man stiffed a cab driver the $10 fare he owed, an NYPD sergeant pushed him through a plate-glass window, resulting in a $120,000 settlement from the city.
Before hopping in the cab, 31-year-old Brett Fasulo downed three shots of tequila, and five vodka-Red Bull cocktails. As the night became day, he hailed a livery minivan to bring him home.
Five minutes later, Fasulo realized he didn’t have any cash, and asked the driver if he could stop at an ATM. According to court papers, the cabbie became irate, and instead drove him to the police station house. Fasulo then bolted from the vehicle.
New York Police Sergeant Louis Fishman then left his post and went outside with Officer Willio Loris. Both got into the van with the cabbie, and pursued Fasulo. When they spotted him, Fishman got out and chased him on foot.
According to Fishman’s testimony, Fasulo stopped, squared around, and attempted to punch the officer. This prompted the officer to push Fasulo with “moderate” force, sending him through the plate-glass window of a store.
In many cases, chiropractic care can help expedite a patient’s recovery. The muscles and nerves need to work together in order for movement to occur, and by properly realigning the body’s structures, chiropractic care hastens the body’s natural healing process. According to the study “Early Predictors of Lumbar Spine Surgery After Occupational Back Injury: Results from a Prospective Study of Workers in Washington State,” 42.7% of studied workers who visited a surgeon wound up under the knife, while only 1.5% of those who went to a chiropractor first needed surgery.
Fasulo’s injuries, though, were the severe type that required surgery no matter what. Once at the hospital, he received between 60 and 70 stitches, and underwent surgery to repair his thumb’s severed tendon.
After Fasulo’s injuries had been sewn up, he went to speak to the officer who shoved him through a window, a conversation that was secretly recorded by the police.
According to a transcript of the audiotape, Fasulo said “I’m sorry. I swear I was blacking out. I didn’t have any idea that I was being chased by a cop. I deserve what I got.”
As the result of taking time off of work to recover, Fasulo wound up losing about $32,000 in pay, according to court papers. Fortunately, the court awarded him with a $120,000 settlement to cover his expenses and more.
“It’s something that I just want to move on from. I’m over it,” Fasulo told the New York Daily News. “What happened happened and I’m just moving forward.”
