Quoted: Fox5 reports they suing the City of New York for $50,000,000 over the shooting. Any sympathy I had for him or his family has pretty much evaporated.

That family is hurting right now. I'm sure they'll get a nice settlement out of court from it and their lawyers know it. NYC would rather settle out of court, it's cheaper and less bad publicity.

I'm sure my family would do the same thing if I got killed as well.

Edited to add - down the line he'll probably have a street named after him too.

Good luck with the lawsuit...

He did not have a couple drinks, his BAC was somethinglike 2-3 times the threshhold to be charged with a DWI from what I read.

From what I rad it is against NYPD policy to carry a weapon while intoxicated - Wave can you give the specifics?

Responding officer arrives, sees man standing over another with a gun drawn.  Man does not respond to verbal commands.  Turns toward officer and is shot.

Tragic... that word doesn't even do the incident justice.  However, from what I read it was a good shoot.  From every comment I read from other officers interviewed, they said it was a good shoot... that while the shooter should feel grief, he should feel no guilt.  I agree, there will be a settlement just to get it out of the public eye, but if the family refuses to settle they aren't going to see shit in the end unless there is negligence we are unaware of at this time.

A $50 million figure is absurd and the family and their lawyer know it.  Solely designed to get a large settlement off the bat.

Officer Hernandez, rest in peace.

Wow... his family knew that when Eric wasn't able to communicate verbally and was slipping in and out of consciousness?

The responding officer should have stopped, holstered his weapon, written the orders out on a piece of cardboard he took from a hobo and held the sign up to the man with the gun to read?

I understand distraught, but come on people!  Learn to think.  This was a tragedy brought on by the fact that an officer was drinking while carrying a gun and found himself in a situation in which his ability to coherently deal with a problem was impaired by enough alcohol to render you incompetent to operate a motor vehicle three times over.

The sad part is most of us probably felt that while tragic, Eric's lack of judgement that evening contributed to this awful outcome.  However, being decent people, you don't piss on a man while he is down or in the ground.  Because of a $50 million lawsuit, you either have to call a spade a spade in defense of the City or settle up to never have to besmirch the man, and I think that is what the family is doing.  Sue for $50 million, which they know they will never see, and take the settlement that will come because the NYPD and the City don't want to look heartless by calling a cop irresponsible and saying he is to blame in some part for his own death.

Clearly, the ultimate fault lies with those who savagely attacked him.  I personally believe from what I have read, that none of the fault lies with the officer who shot him.  His training was not to blame, his actions were not to blame... he was confronted with a non-responsive armed man standing over another person on the ground and he fired.  I dare say any of us would have likely done the same.  There but for the grace of God go I.

I hope there is such an outcry that the family backs down, but I doubt they will.  Some scumbag plaintiff's attorney has it in their head that the City is to blame and they must pay and that the family deserves nearly $35 million for their pain and suffering... and of course, the attorney deserves $15 million for helping hold them "accountable."

No EDP... he may not set out to have gotten that drunk, but he did drink that much.  I seriously doubt anybody held him down and poured the liquor down his throat.  He is also a cop, and Wave can correct me on this if I'm wrong, but most academies do demonstrations where people drink to get drunk and then are asked to do various tasks to show how ability is impaired.  He should have witnessed this and known what happens when various quantities of alcohol are consumed.

As for carrying his gun.  No, I would not have wondered why a drunk officer was not carrying his side arm.  I know if I'm going out to drink I leave mine at home intentionally.  The most I will consume when carrying is one glass of wine, and that must be with a meal.  Never a sip more than that.

His family doesn't deserve a dime.  There is no wrongful death here in my opinion.  There is a great tragedy, but it is not the City's making.  Yes, the thugs beat him and caused his ultimate death.  The officer who fired was doing his job, end of story.  And Hernandez was violating the Department's policy of carrying while intoxicated.  Had he not had his gun drawn, the officer would not have fired.  Had he not been drinking, he would have likely never been in this situation.  If he knew he was going out drinking and left the gun at home or at the precinct (Wave, are you allowed to do that?) he might have gotten a beating if in a fight, but he likely wouldn't have been shot.  The beating he could probably recover from... the beating and shooting was too much.

Make no mistake, I fault the thugs... but Hernandez bares a great deal of responsibility for ultimately being shot and it began with drinking to the point of excessive inebriation while carrying in violation of Department policy.  The City is self-insured, which means any settlement or judgement comes out of the taxpayers' pockets.  Not a thin dime I say!

Let's hear what other cops have to say about this....

Link to NYPD Rant

Quoted: NYC is self insured. They will likely settle out of court for an undisclosed sum. It would probably cost them more to retain a law firm to defend them as well as the risk of a jury trial. The juries in da Bronx like to stick it to the city whenever they get the chance to.

Yeah, I don't see this one ever getting in front of a jury.