New Jersey: “A $50 million lawsuit is being filed against Hoboken and its police department by the parents of a 16-year-old boy who drowned in the Hudson River shortly after escaping from Hoboken Police Headquarters.” On Oct. 5, 2004 Vincent “Woody” McConnell Jr. was arrested on an outstanding warrant and on being taken in asked if he could use the public rest room at the station house. According to police, he then unscrewed the security grate on the small window in the rest room and escaped; with cops in pursuit, he climbed a railing, “escaped from an officer holding his arm and jumped into the water,” which has dangerous currents at that point in the river. Friends of McConnell say they don’t believe he would have jumped. He’s being represented by attorney Robert Bianchi. (Michelangelo Conte, “Suit Blames Cops”, Jersey Journal, Oct. 12).

Filed under: crime and punishment, New Jersey, personal responsibility