In April 2012, Tamon Robinson was struck and killed by an NYPD police car after Robinson was allegedly caught stealing cobblestones from a public housing complex.
Six months later, Robinson's mother says the city is ordering the family to pay $710 to pay for the damages on the very car that killed her 27-year-old son.
45-year-old Laverne Dobbinson told The Daily News, "We’re still grieving, and this is like a slap in the face. They want my son to pay for damage to the vehicle that killed him. It’s crazy."
An attorney for the family filed an intent to sue the city and hopes to prevent the department from issuing any repairs to the vehicle as the case is still under investigation. "In my 40 years of practicing law in this city I have never seen anything as heartless as this," the lawyer told The News, referring to the bill sent to Tamon's family.
According to police, the car was stopped when Robinson ran into it. Witnesses, however, maintain the car hit Robinson directly.
A witness described the incident, claiming, "They hit him. He flew up and he came down. They backed the car up, and they told him to get up. People were yelling out their windows screaming at the cops, ‘We saw what you did.’ ”
Robinson was rushed to a nearby hospital where he fell into a coma. While unconscious, cops kept him handcuffed to the hospital bed. Six days later, he was declared brain dead and his family made the decision to take him off the respirator.
Rev. Al Sharpton held a rally in honor of Robinson and demanded an investigation, which is still in process, to look into any criminal wrongdoing in the young man's death.
An NYPD spokesman declined to comment on the $710 bill.
UPDATE: New York City has apologized for sending the bill.