One of the comments on NJ.com may have said it best:

 

“Instead of suing she should be making a huge donation to the PBA for having well trained officers who saved her life. She should be ashamed of herself.” – ireaddaily

 

Back in March, Carteret resident Ellen Shane was shopping at Woodbridge Center Mall with her husband when she was grabbed by a parolee and taken hostage.  He held a knife to her throat and dragged her by her hair to a nearby department store, in full view of her distraught husband who was unable to free her.  Fortunately a Woodbridge police officer was able to do so, shooting and killing the man who refused to let her go.

 

Now comes the afterthought: Shane realizes the potential to profit from the ordeal.  She is suing the Woodbridge Township police department for $5 million, saying that the department “failed to protect public safety” and that she was “injured as a result of the officer’s actions.”

 

Would she have preferred to be killed?  A commenter named Fallstaff pointed out, “The other option was to have her throat cut, so I believe she got the required police protection.”

 

Mayor John McCormac is standing by the officer, calling him a hero.

 

And $5 million can’t change that.

 

What it can change is morale in the police department, the allocation of crucial tax dollars, and the lives of Shane and her lawyer, who will strike it rich off the backs of a hero and taxpayers and never look back.