HURT IN LINE OF DOODY
By DENISE BUFFA
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D'ALESSANDRO
Court clerk plumb mad.
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April 26, 2004 -- A Brooklyn Family Court clerk is flush with anger and suing the city for $5 million claiming he was injured when a courthouse john suddenly broke beneath him.
"I was sitting on the toilet bowl . . . and the next thing you know, it exploded," said the 40-year-old senior clerk, who claims he suffered four herniated discs in his back.
"I was on the floor, on top of a pile of broken porcelain, in a puddle of water and filth."
Frank D'Alessandro took his infamous bathroom break last July 14 in a private water closet in a judge's robing room on the second floor of the Adams Street courthouse, where he now handles appeals. The porcelain throne shattered beneath his 225-pound, 6-foot-2 frame.
"All I know is one minute, everything was fine, I was doing my business, and in a split second, it's like, 'Boom!' What the heck happened? I'm on the floor!" he said.
His butt slammed into the neck of the bowl still bolted to the wall - before he fell to the floor with his pants and underwear still down around his ankles.
D'Alessandro, who lives in Queens (Woodside, not Flushing), said he felt fine - at first. But then his back started to hurt.
He didn't want to make a big stink about it - but a trip to a doctor revealed the herniated discs, he claims in his lawsuit. Now, he goes to physical therapy and a chiropractor, and stretches every morning for 20 minutes before going to work.
"It's a pain in the ass to do all this stuff," he said.
But what really yanks his chain is that he's unable to exert himself as much as he could before. "I've been advised not to pick up anything heavy."
Once the toilet was replaced, D'Alessandro's colleagues posted a sign above the new throne that reads: "The Frank D'Alessandro Memorial Toilet." D'Alessandro and his lawyer, Morris Markowitz, aren't above some bathroom humor.
"A man has a right to be safe," Markowitz said, "I think that should be in the Constitution, or at least the Bill of Rights, in the pursuit of happiness."
But they insist the legal claim isn't a crock.
"I wouldn't want it to happen to me. I'm old. I definitely would've fractured a hip," the 70-year-old attorney said.
By DENISE BUFFA
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
D'ALESSANDRO
Court clerk plumb mad.
Email Archives
Print Reprint
April 26, 2004 -- A Brooklyn Family Court clerk is flush with anger and suing the city for $5 million claiming he was injured when a courthouse john suddenly broke beneath him.
"I was sitting on the toilet bowl . . . and the next thing you know, it exploded," said the 40-year-old senior clerk, who claims he suffered four herniated discs in his back.
"I was on the floor, on top of a pile of broken porcelain, in a puddle of water and filth."
Frank D'Alessandro took his infamous bathroom break last July 14 in a private water closet in a judge's robing room on the second floor of the Adams Street courthouse, where he now handles appeals. The porcelain throne shattered beneath his 225-pound, 6-foot-2 frame.
"All I know is one minute, everything was fine, I was doing my business, and in a split second, it's like, 'Boom!' What the heck happened? I'm on the floor!" he said.
His butt slammed into the neck of the bowl still bolted to the wall - before he fell to the floor with his pants and underwear still down around his ankles.
D'Alessandro, who lives in Queens (Woodside, not Flushing), said he felt fine - at first. But then his back started to hurt.
He didn't want to make a big stink about it - but a trip to a doctor revealed the herniated discs, he claims in his lawsuit. Now, he goes to physical therapy and a chiropractor, and stretches every morning for 20 minutes before going to work.
"It's a pain in the ass to do all this stuff," he said.
But what really yanks his chain is that he's unable to exert himself as much as he could before. "I've been advised not to pick up anything heavy."
Once the toilet was replaced, D'Alessandro's colleagues posted a sign above the new throne that reads: "The Frank D'Alessandro Memorial Toilet." D'Alessandro and his lawyer, Morris Markowitz, aren't above some bathroom humor.
"A man has a right to be safe," Markowitz said, "I think that should be in the Constitution, or at least the Bill of Rights, in the pursuit of happiness."
But they insist the legal claim isn't a crock.
"I wouldn't want it to happen to me. I'm old. I definitely would've fractured a hip," the 70-year-old attorney said.
