I worked in an area with one hospital and a limited number of physicians. I made it a policy not to ticket doctors, nurses and paramedics. I figured that eventually the tables would be turned and I’d be in their playground looking up at them. I didn’t want anybody carrying more baggage than they had to.
Cancer surgeon not sorry for clipping cop with car
A cancer surgeon who boasted that her job made her superior to the lowly NYPD officers arresting her for refusing a summons and clipping a cop with her car took a plea deal Tuesday in Manhattan court — but remained unrepentant for the bizarre fiasco.
Rachel Wellner, 40, wearing a red minidress and black pumps, pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct — a violation, not a crime — for parking in a crosswalk Feb. 18.
“The people are making the offer,” said ADA Michael McCarthy, “because it is defendant’s first arrest and the officer involved did not experience serious injury.”
Defense lawyer Christopher Galiardo retorted, “The officer didn’t experience any injuries.”
Judge Ushir Pandit-Durant sentenced the former breast cancer specialist at Montefiore Medical Center to a conditional discharge and 10 days of community service. The non-criminal record will be sealed in two years.
Wellner allegedly got into trouble when cops tried to give her a summons for blocking the walkway with her car on West 55th Street between Eighth and Ninth avenues.
“I’m a doctor,” she sniffed to police, wearing her green scrubs. “I have patients that are dying. I have to go. I’m the hero, the cops are not. I don’t accept the summons.”
She then ramped up her tirade, allegedly hurling homophobic slurs at the officers.
“All women who are cops are dykes,” she said, according to court papers.
The cops finally had enough when she screamed, “Help! Police are assaulting me!” and placed her under arrest, the complaint states.
But the high-strung doctor continued to struggle as officers tried to cuff her and “jumped up and down” in her Volvo, court papers say.
Wellner hit the gas and allegedly struck Officer Niguel Vega in the legs. She was promptly booked on reckless endangerment, resisting arrest and other raps.
“I’ve been painted in a very negative and inaccurate light,” Wellner previously said in a phone interview, denying that she uttered the hateful slurs.
She was terminated from her position at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx.