US

Oops: NYC Cops Mistake Ledge Smoker for Psychotic, Suicidal Maniac

Oops: NYC Cops Mistake Ledge Smoker for Psychotic, Suicidal Maniac

Mark Moody enjoys his normal ciagrette break in the window of his NYC apartment. (Photo: NY Post)

Call it one of the ultimate cases of mistaken identity.

A NYC man has filed a lawsuit saying cops mistook his cigarette break on a Manhattan window ledge for a suicide attempt and wrestled him to the ground before sending him to the psych ward.

In what can only be called ironic, the “suicidal” man just happens to be a 40-year-old lawyer named Mark Moody, and now he’s suing the city for $40,00 in damages.

The incident occurred in August, when Moody perched himself outside his apartment window, a mere 12 feet off the ground, during his daily smoking ritual. Suddenly a patrol car pulled up and the officers asked if he was planning on committing suicide.

Moody, who was holding a cell phone at the time, responded with a simple explanation: “If I was going to commit suicide, this would be a pretty dumb place to do it,” he told the New York Post. “If I jumped from here, I’d just sprain my ankle.”

But as the Post reports, that wasn’t sufficient to send the cops packing:

But the officers, who never said what prompted their concern, insisted Moody come downstairs.

Moody refused, explaining he was sitting on the sill so he wouldn’t get smoke in the apartment. He even waved over a cabby he knew from the neighborhood, hoping the hack would confirm that the window is Moody’s regular smoking spot.

But three ambulances and four other patrol cars pulled up before the cabby could move.

“An army of people arrived,” Moody said.

Before he knew it, a beefy officer was inside his apartment, lifting him out of his own living-room window from behind, Moody said. The cop slammed him on the living-room floor while another kneeled on top of him and cuffed him, he claimed.

“I still don’t know how they broke in,” he said. “I never used to keep the chain on, but now I do.”

The attorney was thrown into an ambulance and taken to Beth Israel Medical Center.

The on-duty psychiatrist apologized before quickly discharging him, Moody said.

“I talked to him for three minutes, and he said, ‘Look, I’m really sorry. I apologize on behalf of the city,’ ” Moody recalled.

A spokesman for the NYPD told the Post it responded the way it did because it received “a 911 call of an emotionally disturbed person at the location,” and that when police arrived, “they observed the male sitting on the ledge talking erratically.”

That, Moody said, isn’t true: “I wasn’t doing anything. Maybe it should be a crime to smoke a cigarette, but at the moment it’s not.

Comments (79)

1 2 3
  • mikemanners11
    Posted on December 20, 2010 at 4:53am

    Wow. What a bummer.

    I see ignorant lowlife trash all the time smoking here in restaurants right next to CHILDREN. Scumbags. THEY are the ones who should be knocked down and thrown into jail.

    The ONE considerate smoker in the whole USA and he gets arrested. The ONE smoker I hear about who had the decency to think of others and he gets stuffed and cuffed.

    Sorry to say but MOST smokers could care less about what their second hand smoke does to other people. Just like every other addict their FIX is more important than other humans.

    Soon I hope they JACK up the cigarette tax to 20 dollars a pack…

    Report Post » mikemanners11  
    • Uncle Sambo
      Posted on December 20, 2010 at 5:45am

      You don’t know what the hell you are even babbling about. I hope the f—ing state goes after your cup of coffee next. It would serve you right.

      Report Post »  
  • jbl8199
    Posted on December 20, 2010 at 4:49am

    This is why people hate cops. They spend more time trying to arrest innocent people than actually going after real criminals. Sad.

    Report Post » jbl8199  
    • Uncle Sambo
      Posted on December 20, 2010 at 7:00am

      The holidays are almost upon us. Soon the Christmas Whores will be out picking our pockets again. We are about to receive messages of holiday cheer. It is that time of year for Click it or Ticket to lighten up our wallets. The holiday bells tow Cha-Ching.

      Report Post »  
  • burnteye86
    Posted on December 20, 2010 at 3:26am

    It’s pretty sad when you have to keep your front door chained to keep the cops from breaking in.

    Report Post » burnteye86  
  • Truth be told
    Posted on December 20, 2010 at 3:15am

    Technically, he was behaving in a way that is consistent with suicide. People die from smoking every day. After 50 + years of smoking, I decided to quit 7 years ago when my arteries started clogging up. It might not be intentional but it is a form of suicide. The cops were stupid anyway.

    Report Post » Truth be told  
  • ZaphodsPlanet
    Posted on December 20, 2010 at 2:36am

    Oh just wait, tomorrow someone will jump from a first floor window and kill themselves…… then who will be questioning cops with about as much sense as a lamp post.

    Report Post » ZaphodsPlanet  
  • mytwocents
    Posted on December 20, 2010 at 2:16am

    It appears from some of the comments a few think when you stick it to the government they are the ones that pay. Maybe your thinking it’s NYC, wont cost me anything. They are fellow Americans and progressive mindthink is infiltrating all our cities. I believe this guy deserves an apology from the cops, the city and compensation for any loss but most of all I think he (and we need to stand with him) should demand they put protocol and policy in place to ensure it doesn’t happen to him or anyone else again. That way we all win.

    Report Post »  
  • Voice-O-Reason
    Posted on December 20, 2010 at 1:25am

    When the story doesn’t add up in your mind, there is usually more to the story than meets the eye. I would like to see the report.

    Report Post »  
  • hickoryrat
    Posted on December 20, 2010 at 12:23am

    I guess with no crime in NYC this is all the cops have to do.lol
    Do-nut shops must be on strike.

    Report Post »  
  • La Reine des Damnés
    Posted on December 20, 2010 at 12:10am

    You can still smoke a cigarette in NYC :O who knew.

    Report Post » La Reine des Damnés  
  • TJexcite
    Posted on December 19, 2010 at 11:26pm

    This fits perfectly, In the end he should of tossed his pack out the door.

    http://youtu.be/KB_vwPIFydg

    Report Post » TJexcite  
  • confederacyofdunces
    Posted on December 19, 2010 at 11:16pm

    12 feet, suicide? I’ll bet it gets tied up and is settled out of court. My mother fell due to negligence of the city leaving a cover sticking up on the sidewalk. it drug out for 6 years and was settled out of court. Her knee still needs surgery.

    Report Post »  
  • BriPhi
    Posted on December 19, 2010 at 11:06pm

    I’d sue them for $40k and settle out of court for a public apology and dinner for two at Ruth’s Criss Steakhouse.

    Report Post » BriPhi  
  • timej31
    Posted on December 19, 2010 at 10:55pm

    Oh my God I’ve done that before. Called 911 because my buddy all of a sudden claimed he “was in love” with this women he met at a bar just a month ago so I reported an emotionally disturbed person at his location.

    Report Post » timej31  
  • timej31
    Posted on December 19, 2010 at 10:52pm

    haha hilarious

    Report Post » timej31  
  • spikebu
    Posted on December 19, 2010 at 10:43pm

    Reminds me of the cartoon of the guy on the 4 foot ledge with 100 emergency responders trying to “talk him down”. Has anybody here ever seen “Idiocracy”?

    Report Post »  
  • CowboyExpat
    Posted on December 19, 2010 at 10:41pm

    @spreadcommonsensenot pc
    You are being too nice and too considrate. If it went down as written and the lawyer said what he said, from a 12 foot perch, then the cops are lying. They’re getting off easy.

    Report Post » CowboyExpat  
  • troyvar
    Posted on December 19, 2010 at 10:29pm

    12 feet up and they ask if he’s going to jump to his death? From NYC… It’s Saturday Night Alive…

    Report Post » troyvar  
  • ADDICTED TO TRUTH
    Posted on December 19, 2010 at 10:26pm

    This sounds like my luck right here, LOL…..FUNNY. If he was on his cell phone he probably DID appear to be talking erratically. Who hasn’t had someone walk up beside them while talking on a headset…It makes people think you’ve cracked! Just drop the lawsuit dude, there’s enough of that lunacy….

    Report Post » ADDICTED TO TRUTH  
  • 82dAirborne
    Posted on December 19, 2010 at 10:12pm

    Did anyone bother to TALK to this guy???? But sue for 40 large? Stop it!! Buy him a new pair of jeans & a tee shirt. Trying to make a quick buck from an already clogged court system…. Go ahead give him the $40,000 and then charge him $40.001 court costs for being an idiot.

    Report Post » 82dAirborne  
    • Modawg734Blue
      Posted on December 19, 2010 at 10:46pm

      I hate the stupidity of most lawsuits, but I honestly agree with this guy. Imagine sitting in your own apartment, minding your own business and having this happen to you. Imagine if he had been holding something that could have been mistaken for a weapon. This was gross negligence on the part of the officers involved. I will fight tooth and nail to defend the police, but they do have to act responsibly. He was 12′ off the ground, that doesn’t sound like a suicide attempt to anyone with two brain cells. Maybe they thaught he was a suicide risk because he was smoking. The bottom line is he was at home minding his own business.

      Report Post »  
    • 82dAirborne
      Posted on December 19, 2010 at 10:51pm

      I agree with you. But $40,000????

      Report Post » 82dAirborne  
    • moonpeace
      Posted on December 20, 2010 at 6:00am

      Can’t agree with you 82D. Twelve feet off the ground? Was anybody thinking at all? If the cops followed protocol then protocol needs to be changed.

      Report Post » moonpeace  
    • kryptonite
      Posted on December 20, 2010 at 7:20am

      Why was this moron polluting the environment?. He should be charged $40,002 for acting stupidly and wasting our taxpayers’ money.

      Report Post »  
    • Dirty Harry
      Posted on December 20, 2010 at 8:55am

      Just when I begin to think there’s hope, some dope like Kryptonite crawls out of the swamp to make me realize a certain percentage of Americans are just too stupid to be part of anything but the problem.

      Report Post »  
    • kryptonite
      Posted on December 20, 2010 at 5:10pm

      Hey, Harry, do you think if this lawyer had come downstairs as the police requested, he could have cleared up the confusion? Instead, he behaved like a jackass and ended up in the nuthouse. Here’s the real problem: America is full of putzes like you, who think they don’t owe the authorities the minimum courtesy they deserve in a confusing situation. More often than not, you idiots pay for your arrogance, sometimes with your very life.

      What do you know about a suicidal person’s state of mind? Sometimes a person is, in fact, suicidal but he doesn’t really want to end his life, so he acts out to draw attention. Do you think the police can second-guess what a man reported as suicidal might do next? As police officers their duty is to ascertain that the man is not a threat to himself or others, and they cannot do that if he refuses to cooperate. By resisting instead of assisting the police officers, this doofus left them with no other choice but to apprehend him.

      So the trial lawyer gets a free ride to the loony bin, and we pick up the 400,000 tab, all because the dumbbell is addicted to nicotine and acted stupidly. You want to side with the dirtbag, maybe you ain’t no Dirty Harry — just another punk.

      Report Post »  
  • RobertCA
    Posted on December 19, 2010 at 10:10pm

    See why smoking is bad for you :) :) :)

    Report Post » Robert-CA  
    • Modawg734Blue
      Posted on December 19, 2010 at 10:33pm

      Glad I quit.

      Report Post »  
    • TXPilot
      Posted on December 19, 2010 at 11:26pm

      Yep….smoking….a ten percent chance of cancer…..but a one hundred percent chance of getting your butt kicked…..sheesh!!

      Report Post » TXPilot  
  • Therealist1057
    Posted on December 19, 2010 at 10:07pm

    Maybe they saw an american flag or a Ron Paul sticker and thought he was a terrorist.

    Report Post »  
  • Bryan
    Posted on December 19, 2010 at 10:07pm

    Wow, I’m not going to say this is a sign of a police state, or govt. plan to arrest us all. But it is proof that common sense is getting less common. Was it the fact that he was in a window, or did they think he was slowly commiting suicide by cigarette? Could they argue that one again? I might send him one of my spare e-ciggs so he can stay inside and doesn’t have to get arrested again.

    Report Post »  
  • CYCLONE
    Posted on December 19, 2010 at 10:06pm

    Smokem‘ if you got em’… if Bloomberg was involved …. hopefully he rolled his grit in Kosher salt first,,,

    Report Post »  
  • Dale
    Posted on December 19, 2010 at 10:04pm

    And we wonder why NY is going/is broke.

    Report Post » Dale  
  • spreadcommonsensenot pc
    Posted on December 19, 2010 at 10:02pm

    even the “law” can mis-interpret——-subjective BS has caused more problems…………even in personal lives……………
    Now I understand the law going by instincts BUT we all misjudge—-we are human

    Report Post »  
    • CatB
      Posted on December 19, 2010 at 10:39pm

      Lol … never try to wrestle a lawyer … alligator okay .. lawyer not so much … have fun with the lawsuit … They couldn’t “ask” him if he was going to jump?

      Report Post »  
    • joseph Fawcett
      Posted on December 19, 2010 at 11:05pm

      This is so funny because it is typical of the police thinking they know better than the public. I would like to hear the so called 911 call and who it was from. The cops think they know what they are doing and don’t apply commonsense to the situation. They should be sued and they should pay, and then maybe they will learn to apply commonsense to situations like this to begin with. (Come on the guy was 12 feet off the ground smoking in a window. He was rational.) Hahahahaha! This makes the cops look really bad and it should.

      http://www.josephfawcettart.com western artist

      Report Post » joseph Fawcett  
    • spikebu
      Posted on December 19, 2010 at 11:14pm

      Yes, to err is human, but shouldn’t there be some sort of thought process behind the error? A guy sitting in his window 12 feet off the ground, talking on the phone and smoking a cigarette. Who in their right mind thinks SUICIDE? Ha. The cigarette will kill him before the leap from the great height of 12 feet will. I believe the ones who were unable to apply reason to vision should have been talking to the Psychiatrist.

      Report Post »  
    • TXPilot
      Posted on December 19, 2010 at 11:24pm

      Somehow in all this mess, theres a really great bar joke just dying to get out…..if only a rabbi or a priest would have showed up to go with the cop and the lawyer….lol

      Report Post » TXPilot  
    • RightWrite
      Posted on December 19, 2010 at 11:25pm

      I hope this guy plans on taking this to trial…the jury should be awarding him a million is punitive damages. I don’t condemn the police, or wish the officers to be fired — it’s just a mistake…a million dollar mistake. If the government tries to fight the lawsuit, then the public should demand action against the morons in the district attorney’s office.

      Report Post » RightWrite  
    • Uncle Sambo
      Posted on December 20, 2010 at 5:40am

      “even the “law” can mis-interpret”
      What misinterpretation? According to the article Mark Moody was twelve feet up in the air. (One Story) Get real! That wasn’t misinterpretation that was gross stupidity upon the part of the pigs.

      Do what the sad thing about the incident is? Some are people are truly are brain dead and are willing to excuse the actions of our government officials no matter how appalling they are. I suppose that had Mark Moody broke that pig’s snout in self-defense as the pig was assaulting him, Mr. Moody would be the bad guy here.

       
    • Dustyluv
      Posted on December 20, 2010 at 6:03am

      The police don’t have anything better to do than this? If a person did want to jump, just clear the ground below them and let them jump.

      Besides 12 feet? Come om man…Some cops just need to quit they are so dumb.

      Report Post »  
    • Cobra Blue
      Posted on December 20, 2010 at 6:12am

      IF cigs are so dangerous and cause cancer all sorts of other physical maladies to the human body over a lifetime, then ban the product…otherwise shut the H*** up. You know there is a genuine love affair between the Government and big tabacco because of the money. Big tabacco has agreed to be the whipping post for Big Bro in return for special favors and $’s. Makes perfect sense. If you think for one minute that Washington or the smoking Nazi’s really give a flying you know what about your health, you are severely dillusional. ITs not about health…its about CONTROL. Everything is about CONTROL.

      Report Post »  
    • Cobra Blue
      Posted on December 20, 2010 at 6:19am

      Hey DustyLuv

      I agree. If this guy had been a real jumper, then step aside. Make a call to the sanitation department and put them on stand-by to clean-up the mess. Why should we get all worked up trying to stop him. Or why should we pay valuable tax dollars involving the police department and processng paperwork.

      Report Post »  
    • Dirty Harry
      Posted on December 20, 2010 at 7:28am

      The problem with allowing LEOs to “go by instinct” is that a high percentage of them are dumber than a brick. I can just about guarantee you that this incident had a lot more to do with the cops reacting to the guy’s sarcasm than it had anything to do with the law or protecting him from harming himself.

      Law enforcement is like the teaching profession, it’s a lost art.

      Report Post »  
    • guyperram
      Posted on December 20, 2010 at 7:48am

      Maybe they can pass a law making it illegal to smoke a cigarette on a ledge. You know, they probably already have that law.

      Report Post »  
    • 1proudAmerican
      Posted on December 20, 2010 at 8:46am

      Maybe Obama will have Moody and the cops over for a beer and everything will be fine.

      Report Post »  
    • mdlwoods
      Posted on December 20, 2010 at 10:00am

      This is a classic case of police refusing to LISTEN before jumping to conclusions. If one officer had actually said, hey, man, I am going to come to your door to find out what’s going on, he probably would have been able to have a “rational” conversation with Mr. Moody and would have been able to find out that this perch was his normal smoking section in his own home. But, as usual, the police over-reacted and then most likely refused to listen to the explanations.

      Report Post » mdlwoods  
    • Sinista Mace
      Posted on December 21, 2010 at 3:02am

      This is kinda disturbing. Not because of the stupidity, we all know it’s clearly gumptarded, but the cops have now set a precedent that all they have to do is say you’re crazy or emotionally disturned, and they can violate your rights and enter your domicile.

      Of course, whatever they see in plain sight can be used against you, and you know what types of things they’re looking for.

      I’ll tell you this, you better have a clean ashtray or none at all, and you better not have anything even mildly psychotropic or mood enhancing in your medicine cabinet, and you definitely better not have that antique musket on the wall or in any case where it is clearly visible or any firearms in plain sight.

      Report Post » V-MAN MACE  
1 2 3

Sign In To Post Comments! Sign In

Sign Up For Our Newsletter!

Glenn Beck Radio

Listen to Glenn Beck 24/7 Listen Now
Restoring Love