Eddie Wise got along by cadging a dollar here and a dollar there from strangers in the Bronx. Not in a thousand years would he have dreamed of waking up with $100,000 in his pocket, had he not had the good fortune to be wrongfully arrested. Thanks, NYC taxpayers! (Jennifer Gonnerman, New York magazine, May 14).
Chronicling the high cost of our legal system
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{ 4 comments }
I hereby volunteer to be wrongfully arrested for a measly $50,000. I’ll even provide contact information and personal location at any time of the day or night.
It just goes to show the advantage of human capital. With a little education, he could start a business, get a place in a nicer neighborhood, start making some real money. With what he’s got, he’s just going to eventually spend it and be back out on the streets.
It also shows the disconnect in lawsuits: Often the actual level of damages is too small to effectively deter the offender from offending again, and a payment large enough is a too-large windfall for the victim.
I just loooove the glowing way they portray a guy who has probably personally harassed me for money (I work in the area that this guy ‘hustles’)
I hope he turns his life around, but that doesn’t make me less annoyed.
10:1 odds that liquor stores and bars in his neighborhood (or drug dealers, depending on his taste) get a sudden increase in business, and Eddie’s either dead or broke in less than a year.
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