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Pharmacist Victim Of Medford Pharmacy Father’s Day Murder Sues Suffolk County Police, Three Docs And Murderer

FOR IMMEDIATELY RELEASE ON JUNE 19, 2012

Contact:

Todd D. Greenberg, Esq.

Addabbo & Greenberg

118-21 Queens Blvd. Suite 306

Forest Hills, NY 11375

Tel. 718-268-0400

Email: [email protected]

Tuesday, June 19 th, 2012, Forest Hills, New York

One year to the date of the massacre of four people by David Laffer at Haven Drugs Pharmacy in Medford, the family of pharmacist Raymond A. Ferguson, Jr. has commenced a Wrongful Death lawsuit in Supreme Court, Suffolk County. The wrongful death suit, which alleges negligence in the death of Mr. Ferguson, names Suffolk County, the Suffolk County Police Department, Doctors Stan Xuhui Li, Eric Jacobson and Marc Kaufman, along with Kaufman’s and Jacobson’s medical practices, as well as David Laffer, the convicted murderer, and his wife, Melinda Brady, convicted as an accomplice.

Mr. Ferguson was fatally shot June 19, 2011, Father’s Day, as Laffer robbed the store of more than Ten Thousand pain killers.

The lawsuit follows the arrest of Dr. Eric Jacobson of Great Neck, Long Island, on June 7 th, 2012, who was charged with Conspiracy to Distribute Oxycodone. Dr. Jacobson is alleged to have prescribed thousands of pain pills to David Laffer, prior to the murder, and the lawsuit alleges Dr. Jacobson as one of the proximate causes of the murder. Also named is Dr. Stan Xuhui Li, who was arrested on November 21, 2011 and was also suspected of selling thousands of pain killers to Laffer and contributed to the causation of Laffer’s actions and the death of the four victims. It is also alleged that Dr. Kaufman sold thousands of pain killers to Laffer illegally, contributing to the cause of Laffer’s actions.

Also named is the County of Suffolk and the Suffolk County Police Department for failing to revoke the gun license of Laffer, and confiscate the gun used in the murders, after being called to Laffer’s house on January 12, 2011, by Laffer’s mother, who complained that Laffer stole money from her. Upon information and belief, Laffer confessed to a Suffolk County police officer to the crime and that he was addicted to prescription drugs. Although, the County of Suffolk was put on notice of Laffer’s dangerous propensities, and although the Suffolk County Police Department Pistol License Bureau was notified in writing, there was no further investigation and the negligence of the Suffolk County Police Department in failing to immediately suspend, investigate and revoke Laffer’s license on the grounds he was unfit to possess a firearm was a contributing cause to the death of Mr. Ferguson.

Attorney Todd D. Greenberg states that “Viedya Sabrina Ferguson, the widow of Raymond A. Ferguson, Jr., and whose grandfather and great-grandfather were pharmacists, has commenced this lawsuit to protect pharmacists and their families from being preyed upon by desperate drug addicts and the doctors who feed these drug addicts for financial gain”. According to Greenberg, Ms. Ferguson doesn’t want another family to go through this pain. “The only way to fight this epidemic is to find responsibility on the entire chain of persons and government entities that contributed to this tragedy. The defendants in this case, the individual doctors, the Suffolk County Police Department, Laffer and Brady, all are at fault for this tragedy”, stated Greenberg upon the suits filing.

In the suit, it is alleged that the doctors prescribed “an excessive number” of medications to the couple without ensuring they weren’t at the same time getting it elsewhere, and that the doctors merely wrote prescriptions without treating the cause of the pain.

The suit further alleges that the doctors either “knew or should have known” Laffer and Brady, or both, were addicted and that the doctor’s lack of diligence were a direct cause of Laffer’s behavior at Haven Drugs. Further, Ms. Ferguson hopes the law suit will provide the answer to the following questions regarding the failure of Suffolk County and the Suffolk County Police Department to investigate and revoke Laffer’s gun license; did the investigation take place at all?, and if so, what steps were taken and what conclusions were drawn? How exhaustive was the investigation if conducted, and based on other similar situations, should the weapon have been immediately confiscated?

For more information, contact attorney Todd D. Greenberg at 718-268-0400.

Addabbo & Greenberg is one of New York’s leading full service law firms practicing in the areas of criminal law, negligence cases and real estate transactions. Todd D. Greenberg, Esq. has been lead counsel in over two hundred Felony trials including over 50 homicides related cases and hundreds of civil litigation matters. Assisting Mr. Greenberg in the prosecution of this case is Horace Persaud, E sq.