If you've got an unpaid ticket for, say, drinking a beer on your stoop, you ought try not to get shot. Cops can and will slap cuffs on you if you are a victim of a violent crime, even though some doctors say handcuffing a victim to his or her hospital bed may impede their recovery.
This reminder comes courtesy of the New York Times, which ran an expose this weekend describing incidents involving a number of gunshot victims who were arrested after seeking medical attention. Many of these victims had outstanding warrants for minor violations—one man who suffered three bullet wounds and had a shattered hand was arrested over an unpaid $25 fine, which he says he incurred after drinking a cup of wine in public.
The NYPD says it's part of procedure to run warrants on gunshot victims, and even minor warrants require arrest. "We’re not handcuffing him by virtue of him being a victim,” NYPD spokesman Stephen Davis said. “But if he has a warrant, it would require him to be in our custody." Cops won't slap handcuffs on victims who are in comas or paralyzed, though they will have an officer stand guard at all times. And doctors say this can hamper recovery efforts. Lequint Singleton, who was 'cuffed for two minor offenses after being shot in the back, recalled doctors "arguing with the cop" over the cuffs, all while the victim was bleeding internally. "The doctor tells him: ‘It has to come off. There’s no way it’s staying on," he told the Times. "He’s going into surgery." Another victim's physical therapy was delayed by several days while he was handcuffed.
It's not just gunshot wounds that warrant warrant checks. In 2011, Fitz Fullerton, a livery cab driver who was stabbed by murder Maksim Gelman during his brutal subway stabbing spree claimed he was briefly cuffed after cops found an outstanding warrant from 2001. He was released after an hour, but the experience left a mark. "I believed a police officer was supposed to protect you," Fullertonsaid in 2011. "Someone tried to kill me and I didn’t call the police for them to arrest me; I called them to protect me."
This is not the first time the Times has delved into the dark practice of cuffing wounded victims: in 2007 they ran a profile on cops who cuff mortally wounded individuals.
