We've already had one infuriating tale of police misconduct this week—now comes a story about police incompetence in the face of (seemingly) good intentions. A wheelchair-bound Brooklyn man who suffers from a degenerative bone disease was robbed by a homeless man on new year's. Cops were able to track down the suspect...but then they left 19-year-old Fredrick Brennan outside in the freezing cold during the blizzard with no ride home.
The Times has the frustrating report today on Brennan's bone-chilling tale. Brennan was born with osteogenesis imperfecta, which stunts his growth and gives him "brittle" bones (he estimates he has broken bones 120 times in his life). Brennan, who creates code for new websites for Razor Clicks, has been saving up money to buy a new motorized wheelchair (his is falling apart, frequently shorting out).
After an acquaintance had "taken money from his account using his debit card," Brennan withdrew $4,850 out of the bank while he was visiting his mother in NJ for safe keeping. He was traveling back to NYC on January 1st when a homeless man approached him for money in the Port Authority; the man ended up grabbing his wallet with all the cash. "I was like, 'Oh, it will be O.K., it's the Port Authority,'" Brennan reflected. "That was pretty dumb. I haven't lived in New York City very long. I guess I'm not very street smart."
The next day, cops said they had made an arrest and needed Brennan to come to the precinct to identify him. This occurred on January 2nd, which is when the blizzard hit the city hard, and de Blasio was telling everyone to stay off the streets.
And here's the infuriating part: after identifying the perp (who had $4,073 of his money in his pockets), Brennan asked cops for a ride home, because he was worried his wheelchair would short out in the snow. First police said they would secure him an Access-a-Ride van, but that didn't happen. Then he was told cops didn't have another van with a lift.
So a detective pushed him in the snow to the Union Square station at 11 p.m. that evening. After changing trains, he eventually got off at 86th Street and Bay Parkway in Bensonhurst. And at that point, he began waiting for a bus to come to take him the rest of the way. Except after more than an hour in the freezing cold, no bus had come (and even if it had, he wouldn't have been able to make it home on his own in his chair).
He called 911 and was transported to the hospital with hypothermia. A police spokesman told the Times detectives thought Brennan had a friend who could pick him up in Brooklyn, though he denied he ever told them that. "Although the detectives sought out several options for the victim to be transported to his residence, we should have done a better job of getting him to his destination," spokeswoman Kim Royster said. Even when cops meant well, they still left a wheelchair-bound person out in the cold.
