By Matt Zeidel
A Flatbush family is suing the NYPD, cops and the City of New York for $105 million — plus punitive damages and legal fees — after they say cops broke down their apartment door, cuffed them and interrogated them without a warrant. Earl, Beulah and Jaamel King (father, mother and son, respectively) allege that officers from the 67th Precinct, including Frank Avila, Miguel Carvajal, and Lt. Christopher Coll, burst into their Clarkson Avenue apartment in the early-morning hours of Oct. 15, 2005, “without probable cause, without a search warrant, without displaying a search warrant, without identifying themselves as Police Officers … [and] searched Plaintiffs’ apartment and damaged Plaintiffs’ personal property.” For three hours, alleges the lawsuit filed Jan. 9 in Kings County Supreme Court, the officers “screamed, shouted and otherwise verbally harassed” the Kings, “… while drawing their guns and pointing said guns” in their faces. Earl King’s left shoulder was injured during the ordeal, and Beulah was prohibited from taking her heart medication, the lawsuit says. It was unclear whether the officers were in uniform or displaying identification, or whether charges or arrests stemmed from the incident. Those details will have to come out in court, as it’s NYPD policy not to comment on pending litigation. The Kings are suing for, among other things, negligence, civil-rights violations, and emotional and psychological injury. A woman is suing for $6 million plus legal fees after a visit to a Flatlands radiology clinic allegedly left her with a burnt arm. In a Jan. 3 lawsuit, Romaine Williams alleges that she went for a magnetic resonance imaging test at a United Diagnostic Imaging facility at 3131 Kings Highway. But shortly after the test began, the suit alleges, she began to feel a “burning sensation in her left arm which progressively worsened.” She pleaded with the worker who was administering the test to release her, but the employee allegedly refused, and told Williams “to be still.” She was therefore “forced to endure the severe and excruciating pain of the burning flesh on her left arm for approximately 25 minutes,” the remainder of the test, the suit alleges. Williams, of Brooklyn’s Albany Avenue, is suing Kings Brooklyn Radiological Management, United Diagnostic Imaging and Dove Healthcare Management for $2 million each, for physical pain and injuries she alleges are permanent. A spokeswoman for Dove Healthcare Management was unavailable for comment by press time. A man says he got more than just the cartful of groceries he came for at the Cropsey Avenue Pathmark — he also got a beating, he alleges. Domitila Monzon said on May 9, 2005 he had been shopping at the supermarket, located at 2965 Cropsey Ave., when he was “assaulted” by an unknown employee. A number of aspects of the encounter were unclear at press time, including whether Monzon was in the store or the parking lot, how he knew the unidentified male was a Pathmark employee, and just how a routine grocery trip managed to degenerate into a shopping brawl. Also unknown was what exactly constituted an “assault.” In his Jan. 3 lawsuit, Monzon, of Brooklyn’s West 20th Street, demands a total of $5 million plus legal fees from the Cropsey Avenue Pathmark, its New Jersey-based parent company and the unknown (possible) bagger-cum-boxer. A Pathmark spokesman was out of town and unable to comment on the suit by press time. A Flatbush pawn shop is being sued for allegedly jumping the gun on selling hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of jewelry and other belongings that it had been given as loan collateral. Jean Elmer Michel and Marjorie Vieux allege in a Jan. 5 lawsuit that they respectively brought $150,000 and $90,000 worth of valuables to Church Avenue Pawn Exchange, 2240 Church Ave. There they received loans for $50,000 and $40,000 for their booty. He loans ran from Jan.1-Dec. 31, 2005, and Michel and Vieux say they expected written notice if the pawnbroker, Peter Kazamias, was going to sell any of their belongings. But when they returned to the shop to pay back the money, their things had been pawned off, the suit alleges. It was unclear if they had come back before or after the loan’s term ended, or what portion of the collateral had been sold. The two are suing for $240,000, plus legal fees. A man who answered the phone at the pawn shop, who claimed to be Kazamias’s brother in law, appeared to be familiar with Vieux but said the shop had yet to have been served with any lawsuit.
