Nassau Man Says Cop Beat Him, Blocked Him from Seeing His Dying Mother

A Merrick man claims that a Nassau police officer threw him to the ground and held him there, preventing him from seeing his dying mother.

Gary Leifer, 60, of Merrick, said the altercation began after he followed officers to Nassau University Medical Center, where his 84-year-old mother was being taken. Leifer told Newsday that the problem began when officers told him to move his car instead of allowing him to be with his mother.

“He had one knee on my side and one knee on the side of my head for 20 minutes," Leifer told Newsday. "And I’m just yelling, 'Please, let me see my mother!'"

According to Leifer's account, he followed the officers and the ambulance from his mother's North Bellmore home to NUMC. He parked next to the two squad cars and rushed out to be by his mother's side. But the officers stopped him and told him to move his car, according to reports.

"I ran to the loading dock and as soon I get right there, the cop says, 'Go move your car,'" Leifer told Newsday. "My mother is 10 feet away getting compressions. I said, 'Please let me see my mother.' He said 'Get the [expletive] away.' . . . He picked me up and he threw me to the floor."

Because Leifer filed an official complaint, the police are looking into the incident. Because it's an open investigation, the department can't comment.

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