Updates to our Terms of Use

We are updating our Terms of Use. Please carefully review the updated Terms before proceeding to our website.

Friday, March 29, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Man Shot in Police Parking Lot Blames Sleeper

FAIRFAX, Va. (CN) - A man who tried to report an assault in the parking lot of a Fairfax County police station says he was shot five times after the front desk cop, who "appeared to be sleeping," told him to go back outside. As he lay bleeding in the cops' parking lot, he says, he had to use his own cell phone to call an ambulance.

Najib Gerdak accuses Fairfax County and the "indifferent" Jane Doe officer at the Franconia District Police Station of gross and wanton negligence, in Fairfax County Court.

Gerdak says the shooting occurred in the early morning of Feb. 2, 2008, when he noticed a car following him, prompting him to drive to the Franconia District Police Station. He says a taxicab pulled into the parking lot, followed by a speeding SUV that repeatedly rammed the cab.

Gerdak says he ran into the station, and as he approached the officer at the front desk, "he noticed that her eyes were closed, her feet were propped up on the desk, and she appeared to be sleeping."

Gerdak says he woke her up to alert her of the situation taking place just outside the station, but the officer appeared "indifferent" and "refused to render assistance."

He says the officer told him to tell the cab driver to call his dispatcher to report the incident.

Gerdak says that when he went outside to do that, the driver of the SUV shot him five times.

"While on the ground injured and bleeding, Gerdak called for his own ambulance using his personal cellular phone," he says in his complaint.

Then, Gerdak says, he waited for 20 minutes for an ambulance to reach him.

Gerdak claims he suffered permanent nerve damage from the shooting, and required emergency surgery to repair his "eviscerated colon."

He demands $10 million in compensatory damages, and punitive damages, for gross negligence, willful and wanton negligence, failure to protect, and other charges.

He is represented by Katherine Martell of Falls Church.

Categories / Uncategorized

Subscribe to Closing Arguments

Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.

Loading...