Surgeon who hit cop with car wins $1.2M in excessive force lawsuit
By Andrew Denney and Natalie O'Neill
New York Post
April 26, 2019
The cancer doctor with a God complex who claimed cops manhandled her during a spat over a parking ticket won nearly $1.2 million in an excessive force lawsuit Friday.
Dr. Rachel Wellner — a former Bronx surgeon who told officers “I’m the hero; the cops are not” when she was arrested for striking an officer’s leg with her Volvo three years ago — sued the city for $30 million claiming her civil rights were violated when a cop pushed her and grabbed her arm during a Midtown traffic stop in February 2016.
During the clash with cops, police said Wellner went on a rant about how her job saving lives made her superior to them. “I’m a doctor,” she said, according to police.”I have patients that are dying. I have to go.”
She later pleaded guilty to a disorderly conduct charge, was sentenced to 10 days of community service — and then sued the city September 2016.
Officer Niguel Vega Vega admitted during the trial he had come into physical contact with Wellner. But it wasn’t immediately clear how the jury determined he had used excessive force or why she was awarded $1.2 million.
The jury of six women and four men voted unanimously in Wellner’s favor but awarded her far less money than she demanded.
But that didn’t upset Wellner.
“We’re just happy they were able to see through the lies and deception of the police and were able to get to the truth of the matter,” Wellner’s lawyer, Jon Norinsberg, told The Post.
Wellner has since been fired from her job as a surgeon at Montefiore Einstein Center for Cancer Care.
After she was canned, she also sued the hospital — and that case is still pending.
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