Hyperbole, Whipped to a Froth

17 April 2026

One has to learn to accept a certain amount of hyperbole from commentators remarking on the misdeeds of New York Police Department (NYPD) officers. Two of last week’s comments, about the NYPD sergeant sentenced to prison for second-degree manslaughter for throwing an ice cooler at a fleeing scooter driver, causing the driver’s death, reached a new high (or low) point.

First, police union leader Vincent Vallelong stated that the sergeant’s sentence, for three to nine years, was “one of the darkest days in the history of our profession.” Mind you, he could have been referring to last week’s report that an officer was fired for chasing a vehicle that sideswiped his car while off-duty, causing the deaths of two persons. Or he could have been referring to last week’s police chase of a delivery scooter driver, resulting in the driver’s death, but then, I have my doubts.

Both incidents reflected poorly on the involved officers’ judgement and probity. In the incident that resulted in the deaths of two persons: the officer pursued the chase even though both vehicles were driving the wrong way on a highway; the officer continued the chase even though the 911 operator advised him twice to pull over and wait for arriving officers; the officer attempted to hide evidence of the chase, but his attempt was caught on surveillance video; and the officer continued to lie about his actions in sworn testimony in his departmental trial, even when confronted with the video evidence disproving his lie.

In the incident involving the delivery scooter driver, officers pursued the driver after they observed him driving the wrong way, even though NYPD protocol is explicit that vehicle chases should only be made in response to persons who commit serious and violent crimes, not for traffic offenses. The department, laughably, refused to confirm a chase had taken place, even though cellphone video of the chase was shown on local television news.

All of which brings us to the second myopic comment regarding the sentence for the ice cooler throwing sergeant, delivered by Andrew Quinn, the sergeant’s lawyer. “Make no mistake, judge… the sentence you impose is going to send a message that officers who make a split-second decision, a judgment call in good faith, are now looking at incarceration for an unexpected tragic outcome.” This statement would have been fine, if police officers are not trained to make split-second decisions (they are), if the standard for second-degree manslaughter excused good faith efforts (it does not) and if only people who expected the outcome of their actions were imprisoned (nope).

In fact, the standard for second-degree manslaughter is recklessness, which the trier of fact, the judge, found to be the case. The judge dismissed the sergeant’s claim that he threw the ice cooler to save other officers, while cooly noting officers could have arrested the scooter driver another day. In a world without standards of accountability, the commentators’ remarks would carry some weight. Thankfully, that is not the world we live in.