Science teacher's brush with police ends in heart attack

BY JOHN MARZULLI
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Monday, October 8th 2007, 4:00 AM

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A mild-mannered Brooklyn high school teacher says he was nearly scared to death by NYPD cops who mistook him for a perp.

When the violent encounter was over, Lester Jacob, 50, suffered a heart attack and was left on his own in the street by cops, who accused him of "acting."

In July he underwent open-heart surgery.

Jacob had the misfortune to be driving home through Brownsville, Brooklyn, on June 22 around the same time cops were on the lookout for a hit-and-run driver. Jacob, an earth science teacher at James Madison High School in Midwood, heard a siren, looked in his rear-view mirror and dutifully pulled over for the radio car behind him.

He wasn't prepared for what happened next. Two officers rushed up to Jacob's vehicle and pointed their guns at his head, according to a lawsuit filed in Brooklyn Federal Court.

Cursing at him, they ordered Jacobs out of the car and roughly cuffed him.

"One officer crushed his knee into Mr. Jacob's back," the complaint states. "They then repeatedly slammed his head onto the car and then pressed his head against the car for some time."

Additional officers arrived on the scene with a witness to the earlier accident. The witness told them Jacob was the wrong guy.

"'I told you it was a white Maxima,'" the witness reportedly said, according to the complaint. Jacob drives a white Infiniti.

Jacob told the cops he was experiencing chest pains and began coughing uncontrollably.

A female cop said, "Nice acting," according to Jacob, and then drove off. Jacob said he struggled to drive home, stopping to vomit on the side of the road.

His wife rushed him to the hospital, where doctors determined he had suffered a heart attack.

"I was scared to death," Jacob said of his brush with the NYPD. "I was feeling terror."

His attorney John Lambros said there was no reason for the cops to handcuff or use excessive force against the 150-pound teacher while they were waiting for the witness to show up.

The cops were not identified, but their radio car number has been turned over to the Civilian Complaint Review Board. A spokeswoman for the city Law Department said the complaint is being reviewed.

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