New York Employment & Personal Injury Attorneys

Report slams LI cop on SUV sunbather crash

BY KIERAN CROWLEY
New York Post Staff Writer
April 11, 2011

A cop failed to look where he was going when he crushed a sunbather with his SUV on a Long Island beach — as people screamed at him to stop, according to a damning police report obtained by The Post.

The report contradicts the account of Long Beach officer Paul Demarco, who insisted that he did look before making a U-turn and running over Marshall Starkman with his 5,000-pound vehicle as the victim sat in a chaise longue, the report said.

It quotes witnesses saying other beachgoers had frantically shouted out warnings.

Starkman, who miraculously survived, said, “I cannot believe the police officer said he looked, and he did not see me.”

His wife, Allison, said her husband was “just too upset” to finish reading the police report.

Starkman’s lawyer, Neil Greenberg, said the report and a police video that re-created the bizarre accident last May show Demarco should have been able to see Starkman.

“This is the most extreme example of negligence imaginable,” said Greenberg, who added that his client suffered spinal and heart injuries and is unable to work.

The accident “ruined his life,” Greenberg said.

The report concluded there was no criminality.

Demarco is still a cop, said Greenberg, who is suing the town and the cop for unspecified damages on behalf of Starkman.

A lawyer for the town declined comment.

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