Pennsylvania: “The widow of an upper Bucks County man [John Heckenswiler] who killed himself after a 15-hour standoff has filed a federal lawsuit against authorities, claiming they threatened and harassed her unstable husband so severely that he chose suicide over surrender. Deborah Heckenswiler retained an attorney with a record of success in suing police — John P. Karoly Jr. of South Whitehall, who has won multimillion-dollar settlements in brutality and misconduct suits against the Bethlehem and Easton police departments in recent years. … Police violated Heckenswiler’s ‘federally guaranteed right to be free from discrimination on the basis of disability’ because of policies and practices that encouraged negligence and excessive force in dealing with the mentally ill, the suit claims.” (Daniel Patrick Sheehan, “Widow sues police; Karoly takes case”, Allentown Morning Call, Oct. 14). More: complaint here in PDF format courtesy SuicideMalpractice.Net, a website critical of lawsuits seeking to blame third parties for acts of suicide.
Police sued after man in 15-hour standoff kills self
Pennsylvania: “The widow of an upper Bucks County man [John Heckenswiler] who killed himself after a 15-hour standoff has filed a federal lawsuit against authorities, claiming they threatened and harassed her unstable husband so severely that he chose suicide over surrender. Deborah Heckenswiler retained an attorney with a record of success in suing police — […]
3 Comments
Thank you for the story.
The complaint:
http://www.suicidemalpractice.net/Heckenswiler%20Complaint%209-15-06.pdf
Frankly I’ve always been amazed at the level of restraint exercised by the police. As a member of the public being protected I want to see the police taking definitive action when some nut has used or is threatening violence with a weopon. Perhaps the police in this incidence would have reduec their liability my immediatly declaring the situation an imminent danger to the public and getting a sniper to do a head shot. Once they move into standoff mode they create hours of interaction with the soon-to-be-victim that can be second guessed. Rapid, lethal and uncompromising force might have spared them legal headaches here.
Nevins, I agree with you in some cases, i.e. the nutbar in question has injured other people or claims he intends to. But police seem to show similar restraint when the subject of the standoff is going to harm himself, and in that case, I’ll go with an expensive standoff anyday. I don’t know if they use tear-gas canisters against people intending to harm only themselves, though.
Either way, I can’t wait to see a hostage movie after this lady wins her suit.