A MAN sentenced to 20 years in prison for stabbing an NYPD officer in the head began his suit against the city today, claiming the incident would never have happened if officers had followed proper procedures.
Hugo Antonio Hernandez, who pleaded guilty to plunging the six inch-long (15cm) blade of a hunting knife a quarter-of-an-inch (64mm) into the officer's brain, is acting as his own lawyer in the Brooklyn federal court case. He claims he was beaten by responding officers.
The incident began when Officer Angel Cruz Jr, a Marine Corps and Iraq War veteran, stopped Hernandez and his friend to issue them tickets for smoking on a Brooklyn subway platform in March 2007.
Hernandez, 27, told the jury in opening statements today that as the officer began to frisk him for weapons he panicked because he thought he was about "to be executed".
Officer Cruz, who returned to the force but still suffers from memory loss as a result of the attack, opened fire after being stabbed, striking Hernandez four times.
Under questioning by city lawyers, Hernandez admitted that prior to the assault he had been "diagnosed as homicidal and suicidal" and later deemed to be "a manic depressive with psychotic features" who believed he was on a "mission from God" to wipe out oppression in the world.
Hernandez countered that other cops responding to the Broadway Junction subway station in East New York punched his face, broke his ankle, spit on him, and twisted his finger - all after he was handcuffed and lying on the ground.
He also charged in his $45-million civil rights suit that the incident could have been averted if�Officer�Cruz had followed procedure and requested back-up officers.
Read more at The New York Post.
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