Mother of slain baby sues East Orange police

[GoNRA 12]

(05/2/10) EAST ORANGE - The mother of the 3-month-old baby thrown off the Driscoll Bridge is planning to sue the East Orange Police Department.

 

Venetta Benjamin says that police turned her away from filing a restraining order against the father one day before the abduction occurred.

 

Attorney Mitchell Liebowitz said police told the mother that Family Court was closed for the day and that she should return the next day. Benjamin was able to get a restraining order the following day, but authorities were unable to serve it before police say Shamsid-Din Abdur-Raheem abducted the child.

 

East Orange police declined to comment.

[Malsua 1,422]

A restraining order wouldn't have prevented the abduction. Did she call the police when scumbag abducted the child but they refused to come because they hadn't served the restraining order yet? If the answer is yes, she has a case.

 

If not, she's just rolling the legal dice hoping to come up with a big payday.

 

It's a sad situation and I wish they'd toss the man who did it over the side of the bridge with a 10 foot rope affixed to his neck. Suing the police serves no one's interest except the mother.

[mipafox 438]

Police have no duty to protect individual citizens. Their job is generally to investigate crime after the fact. According to the US Supreme Court.

 

I am not a lawyer, but she's going to need a little luck and a good shyster.

[KpdPipes 388]

Yes and no when it comes to the "Duty to Protect". There are Attorney General's guidelines on how Domestics are supposed to be handled. WITHOUT KNOWING THE SPECIFICS other than in that tiny snippet, telling someone "Family Court is closed come back tomorrow" is NOT AN ACCEPTABLE RESPONSE if she wanted that TRO. I do 2 a week and I work steady nights when NO court is open. I can think of MAYBE 4 in the last year that the Judge didnt Authorize telephonically, or were so UTTERLY non-emergent that we were within the guidelines to tell the vic to go to the court. IME the Cities tend to blow off domestics, or, at best send them to the suburbs for the paperwork. In the real world?? malsua is 100% correct that TRO in hand would not have altered the outcome one whit. But by (and again just going on the story) Violating the Ag guidelines, they opened themselves up to a HUGE liability problem. Expect to see some Patrolman thrown under the bus for this, even though the call was more than likely made by a Boss. Like I tell the kids all the time, it doesnt MATTER that they are Called "Guidelines".... violate them and you'll see that they are written in stone...as that stone is broken off in your A$$.