The 84-year-old Manhattan man knocked unconscious by cops as he was arrested for jaywalking is slapping the city and NYPD with a $5 million lawsuit, the Daily News has learned.
Kang Chun Wong, who was left a bloody mess after the violent encounter in January, claims he suffered permanent injuries as a result of the head wound caused by heavy-handed cops, according to the suit to be filed Thursday in Manhattan Supreme Court.
“His memory has deteriorated since the incident, he even admitted it is so,” said Wei Wong, the plaintiff’s son. “He’s trying to get back to normal, but just going out is difficult for him.”
Before Wong’s fateful brush with an NYPD ticket blitz, the former owner of La Nueva Victoria restaurant on Broadway was an active walker in his Upper West Side neighborhood and also took the subway daily to a senior center in Chinatown.
“He’s still traumatized,” Wei Wong said. “Just crossing the street, he’s afraid of cops coming up from behind and arresting him. He won’t cross even if the crosswalk signal is blinking because of what occurred. He’s terrified, in fact.”
Wong was returning to his apartment Jan. 27 when he was stopped by Officer Jeffrey Loo for allegedly crossing W. 96th St. at Broadway against the light.
Wong, who only speaks Cantonese and Spanish, did not understand what the cop was saying. The cop took Wong’s identification card and began walking away, prompting the octogenarian to protest.
Loo, joined by several more unidentified cops, pushed Wong up against a building wall trying to handcuff him, then knocked him to the pavement where he struck the back of his head and blacked out.
Besides jaywalking, Wong was also charged with resisting arrest and disorderly conduct, but the Manhattan district attorney’s office later declined to prosecute the case.
Wong’s run-in with cops came during a crackdown after three pedestrians — including 9-year-old Cooper Stock, who was hit by a cab — were killed just blocks apart in just over a week.
Police Commissioner Bill Bratton did not publicly criticize the cops, but issued a memo urging police to “use discretion” when dealing with elderly or handicapped jaywalkers.
Wong’s lawyer, Sanford Rubenstein, said the incident shows what’s wrong with the NYPD’s quality of life enforcement known as “broken windows” by turning a minor incident into a major crime.
“The broken windows policy in this era is a broken policy,” Rubenstein said. “When an elderly man ends up with multiple staples to close a wound in his head because of the issue of alleged jaywalking, it’s simply not right.”
A Law Department spokesman said the suit will be reviewed when it is received.
