Whiplash (Law & Order episode)

Whiplash was the nineteenth episode in the eleventh season on the longest-running crime drama television series Law & Order. It was aired on 18 April, 2001.

Cast

Police

S. Epatha Merkerson Lt. Anita Van Buren
Jerry Orbach Det. Lennie Briscoe
Jesse L. Martin Det. Ed Green

District Attorney's Office

Dianne Wiest Nora Lewin
Sam Waterson Jack McCoy
Angie Harmon Abbie Carmichael

Episode Description

A Hispanic male is found dead from chest trauma. Detectives Briscoe and Green learn that he and two other illegal immigrants had been in a faked auto accident. As they find evidence linking numerous similar accidents to the same employer, chiropractor, insurance adjuster, and lawyers, McCoy and Carmichael must decide who is ultimately responsible for the victim's death.

Plot Overview

Law

A couple exits a restaurant after having dinner with the man's parents. The woman worries that his parents hate her and she needs a cigarette. He doesn't want them to see her smoking so they go around the corner--only to find the body of a Hispanic male. Det. Lennie Briscoe and Det. Ed Green arrive on the scene and are briefed by a crime scene technician. The man is Hispanic between 30 and 35. He has abrasions on the neck and a bruise on his chest. He has no ID on him and has been dead about an hour. All they find on him is a bus transfer. Briscoe and Green head over to the Medical Examiner to try and get the cause of death. She is busy and can only provide a preliminary cause. He died from some type of chest trauma. Briscoe and Green then head back to the station to talk with Lt. Anita Van Buren. They tell her the bus transfer was for the Q32. She tells them that bus originates in Jackson Heights. The man had $250 in his pocket. He also had a program for "A Brief History of Marionettes." They head over to St. Francis Catholic Church and talk with the Father there. The detectives question him about the man and the program. He directs them to Norma Lopez. Ms. Lopez is hesitant to identify the man because she doesn't want to get his family deported, but eventually tells them that he looks like the father of Marta Santiago, a first grader at PS/37.

Briscoe and Green head over to the Santiagos' apartment. His wife is distraught but denies her husband his missing. Her sister tells them her husband is away visiting relatives. Green talks with Mrs. Santiago, saying that they found the man on the street and they only want to find out who is responsible. Briscoe promises that the INS will not be involved and they have nothing to worry about. Finally Mrs. Santiago admits that the man is her husband Hector. The detectives question her about what her husband might have been doing on E 56th St. She tells them he was probably working near there. She tells them that he gets paid $50 every day and is confused when they tell her he had $250 on him. Briscoe asks her if he might have been doing something illegal, that she didn't know about. She says, "Not Hector." She had been afraid to call the police to report him missing because they are illegal immigrants. Mrs. Santiago tells the detectives that Hector had told her he wasn't feeling well the previous Tuesday--he had hurt himself at work. She tells them Hector had been working for a man named Mike Anderson.

Over at a construction site, the detectives question Mike Anderson about what may have happened to Hector on Tuesday. Anderson tells the detectives he hadn't seen Santiago in weeks--he hadn't had any work. Anderson directs them to a corner up in Harlem where day laborers frequently hang out looking for work. At the corner in Harlem one of the laborers tells the detectives that Hector got in a truck marked "Reed Moving Company" that Tuesday. The detectives head over to the Reed Moving Company over in Long Island City and question the owner, Bill Reed. Reed denies knowing Hector, but says it may be possible one of his drivers might have picked him up from the corner. The detectives question the driver Reed sent them to about Hector. The driver tells them that Hector had been there on Tuesday and Wednesday and had done a good job Tuesday, but wasn't much help Wednesday. Hector claimed to have been injured in a car accident.

Briscoe and Green return to the Medical Examiner's Office. Rogers confirms that the injuries are definitely consistent with an auto accident. She tells them they can just run it through INS now, but the detectives are still suspicious. They wonder, if it had been just an accident, why didn't Santiago tell his wife. Briscoe and Green return to talk with Mrs. Santiago who tells them they don't own a car and she doesn't know anything about a car accident. She says Hector didn't tell her, probably because he didn't want to worry her. While talking with Mrs. Santiago, Green receives a phone call with information about the accident. He asks Mrs. Santiago if she knows someone named Chad Patel. She tells them no, and asks why. Green tells her than Patel had been listed as the driver in a car accident where Hector had been listed as a passenger. They leave to go question Patel. Patel tells them he had been driving Hector and another man from Queens back to Harlem. He tells them a man in an SUV had been tailgating him and another man cut him off, forcing him to slam on the brakes. The SUV behind him rear-ended him. He tells them that he had called the cops but that they had done nothing. He also mentions that the man in the SUV had been on a cell phone.

Green calls the DMV and pulls the other driver's record and they go to question him. His side of the story differs from Patel's. He tells the detectives that he got on his phone "after" the accident to call his wife. He says that Patel slammed on his brakes for no reason and that he had tried to swerve but he was boxed in. He told all this to the officer on the scene and after giving them his insurance information, they let him go. He says that an ambulance was arriving just as he was leaving. The detectives go and talk with the EMT who had responded to the accident. She tells them that all three men had refused medical attention against her advice. She noted that all of them said they had "pain radiating from the neck" and that she thought it was odd that all three would have used the same phrase. With this new information the detectives head over to the apartment of Chad Patel only to find that he has moved out. Frustrated, the detectives head over to the apartment of the third man, Everald Daly. The man who answers the door at Daly's apartment denies knowing him, but the detectives see through his lie and he lets them in. The man tells them Daly is not there, but Briscoe hears movement in the bathroom and kicks down the door--only to find Daly stuck trying to head out the window. Green cuffs him and takes him down to the station for questioning.

At the station Green begins questioning him about 2 other rear-end accidents that Patel had been involved in, and tells him he could be looking at accessory to Manslaughter. Briscoe tells him he is also looking at Insurance Fraud. When Daly continues to refuse to talk, Green threatens him with a few months in INS lockup. Daly finally cracks and tells them what had happened--Patel is supposed to swerve in front of a car and slam on the brakes. There is another car involved who rides up alongside so the other car can't swerve out of the way. Daly says Patel had already crashed two cars the same way and no harm had come. They are to tell their story to the EMTs and officers on the scene and head over to a clinic to be checked by a doctor. Then they are paid $200. Daly tells them he got hooked up with this scheme by Bill Reed from the moving company.

The detectives head over to Reed Moving Company and tell Reed they have questions for him. They take him down to the station for questioning. Lt. Van Buren and Abbie Carmichael run the interrogation. He denies all knowledge of what is going on, but Van Buren tells him they already have plenty of evidence for 2nd Degree murder. Carmichaels tells him she doesn't think he's very high on the totem pole, but if doesn't talk then it will be his head she goes after. Reed says, "well it's my head, and I want a lawyer."

Order

Carmichael meets up with Jack McCoy. She tells him that Reed made bail and isn't talking. McCoy remarks that the court must not put much into their depraved indifference theory. Carmichael is frustrated that with such an obviously staged accident, how could the court be so lenient. McCoy tells Carmichael to follow the money trail. Carmichael heads over to Exel Insurance to find out about Patel's previous accidents. The insurance agent tells her that he claimed 'soft tissue damage' aka 'whiplash' as his injury in both accidents. Carmichael is curious as to why Exel Insurance settled with Patel on both accidents. The agent tells Carmichael that after legal fees, physicians fees, etc that it would have cost more to disprove the claim than to just settle for 'nuisance value.' Carmichael tells the agent that she will need all of Exel's soft tissue claims for the last 12 months. Again, to avoid the hassle of lawyers, the agent agrees to get her the claims.

Carmichael finds out that there are at least 19 other accidents connected with Reed and that all 19 had gone to the same chiropractor. She takes all the records to a different chiropractor to find out if any of the claims warranted insurance payouts. The doctor tells her that while soft tissue damage claims are very hard to diagnose, that most of the tests ordered by Raleigh are notoriously unreliable. He goes on to say that while they are difficult to diagnose, he would expect some of the claims to exhibit some type of damage apparent in the X-rays, MRIs, etc. None of them showed any of those signs. Further more, each patient received an average of 10 visits from Raleigh and he suspects that if their no-fault coverage were examined, they would find that their treatment ended exactly when their coverage ran out.

McCoy and Carmichael go to the office of Dr. Jerome Raleigh and meet with him and his attorneys Alan Petrie and Richard Saunders. Raleigh treated Patel, all of Patel's passengers and they were all employees of Reed Moving. Raleigh's attorney pass this off as good business referrals and common accidents. McCoy then points out that there were instances were Raleigh marked down an office visit for Patel, even though Patel's work records clearly show he was at work at the time. Raleigh tries to pass it off as a simple clerical error, but Carmichael points out that it happened 6 times. Raleigh's attorneys try to play it off as a simply civil matter. McCoy lays it out as a pervasive pattern of insurance fraud, putting innocent lives at risk, providing false treatment and contributing to the death of Hector Santiago. Carmichael threatens to call experts to testify that none of the claims warrant merit. Mr. Petrie responds by saying that they have tried more medical cases than McCoy has tried homicide cases, and that they will call experts to counter. He then ends the meeting.

Back in McCoy's office, he and Carmichael meet with Reed and his attorney. Carmichael tells Reed that they have found 46 whiplash claims linked to current or former employees of his--all treated at Raleigh's clinic. Reed reacts when he finds out that they have talked to Raleigh by turning on Raleigh and his attorneys. He claims all he did was go out, find some illegal immigrants who needed some extra cash and set them up in the scam. He received a finder's fee of $500 per passenger. He tells McCoy that Raleigh's attorneys, Petrie and Saunders, are the ones who ran the entire operation.

McCoy and Carmichael meet with Nora Lewin to discuss the case and find out how to proceed. She is furious at Petrie and Saunders and tells McCoy to make examples out of them--bring murder indictments against them both. Carmichael tells her that it won't be easy as they never had direct contact with Reed or the guys involved in the accidents. Lewin is frustrated because there is no way to flip Raleigh while Petrie and Saunders represent him.

The next scene takes place in the chambers of Judge Shirley Taylor. The DA's office has filed a motion to disqualify on the grounds that they are calling Petrie and Saunders as witnesses. Petrie says that this is simply retaliation for not helping McCoy with a plea bargain for Raleigh. McCoy says they need them to establish that there was a conspiracy to defraud the insurance company--they can testify as the money the phony accident victims received. Saunders responds by saying that even if there was a conspiracy that they can't be compelled to testify against their own clients (the accident victims). McCoy says they are willing to grant blanket immunity to all their clients for anything they might say. Petrie then asks about Raleigh and why he doesn't get immunity. Carmichael says that they don't intend to question Petrie or Saunders about their conversations with Raleigh. Saunders makes one last protest saying they have spent two months preparing for this case. Judge Taylor responds by saying that she will give substitute counsel plenty of time to get up to speed.

In the DA's conference room McCoy, Carmichael, Dr. Raleigh and his new counsel meet to discuss a plea. McCoy tells Raleigh they want testimony against Petrie and Saunders. Raleigh agrees but only if he gets Manslaughter 2 2-6 years with no opposition to parole. McCoy agrees. Raleigh tells them that he was paid a finder's fee of $500 per passenger plus 5% of any insurance claim. Any of his costs were covered by the no-fault insurance coverage. When asked if Petrie and Saunders knew that the accidents were staged, Raleigh replies by saying that they were the ones who insisted on at least three passengers per vehicle. Green and Briscoe then arrest Petrie and Saunders in the middle of a meeting with clients. McCoy meets with Nora and he says he's confident he could get Man 1, but after that, he's not sure. She responds by saying that because Petrie and Saunders were sacrificing innocent lives for a few dollars, they deserve to go down for much more. She tells him to indict for murder.

McCoy questions an expert witness about the accident. She testifies that it was a classic swoop and squat and out of the 58 cases she examined, virtually every one fit the pattern of a swoop and squat. During cross examination, defense counsel Mr. Coffer asks her for proof that his clients knew anything about these accidents being fake. She says that out of all the cases, with every single one being exactly the same, she found it very difficult to believe the lawyers had no idea what was going on. Raleigh testifies for the prosecution about Petrie and Saunders’s involvement. He says that with repeat customers her referred 206 cases to Petrie and Saunders. Defense counsel questions him about the processes, and Raleigh is unable to offer up any tangible proof of money changing hands, or that Petrie or Saunders knew the accidents were faked. Raleigh is unable to do so, and Mr. Coffer says, 'it looks like you took care of everything.' Petrie is then questioned by the defense. He denies all charges and knowledge of the accidents. He paints himself as a champion of the poor and an attorney who is willing to stand up against the 'big bad insurance company' on behalf of the poor and downtrodden. McCoy crosses him and is unable to shake him from his position. Outside the courtroom Carmichael tells McCoy that she thinks there may be members of the jury who will appreciate what Petrie and Saunders are doing. McCoy says that they should go find someone who isn't so happy with their results.

McCoy brings a woman (Mrs. N'Dabe) to the stand whose husband was involved in one of those accidents and died. She tells the court that Petrie and Saunders took 50% and then $37,000 more for expenses (totaling 87%). McCoy asks if that's why she's testifying, because she feels cheated. Mrs. N'Dabe says that she is there because her husband is dead and it's Petrie and Saunders’s fault. She testifies that at the hospital Petrie was already there and told her that her husband was critical and might die. He then informed her that she had to sign them on to be her counsel because if not then the insurance company would find out what was going on and she might not receive anything, and could be deported. McCoy asks if she is worried that if now the insurance company might come after her for fraud. She says that she might lose the money, but she wants Petrie and Saunders to pay for what they did. During cross, Petrie and Saunders attorney questions her, asking who had been kind to her, who had paid for things (these turned out to be expenses). She says she was afraid to come forward because she wasn't legal. He says wasn't it because you realized how little money you were going to receive?

During summation, counsel for the defense claims that Petrie and Saunders had no idea what was going on. He says they are champions of the people, and that the insurance companies have painted personal injury lawyers as bottom feeders. He says, 'everyone hates a lawyer until they need one.'

During McCoy's summation he talks about how Petrie and Saunders are not champions of the people, but simple con-men who took the lives of the Hector Santiagos of the world, put them in a car and told them to cross their fingers. Then afterwards they took legal fees and large percentages, leaving the Mrs. N'Dabes of the world with their 13%.

In the end the jury finds Alan Petrie and Richard Saunders guilty. The Insurance companies move to set aside all claims, and Hector Santiago's family won't see a penny.

Trivia

*Lt. Van Buren's sister lives in Queens.

*The maneuver the cars used to stage the accident is called a "Swoop and Squat", a type of Insurance Fraud. In such a maneuver, the cars surround a victim on all sides so it can't get out of the way, and then one of them intentionally hits the car.

Quotes

CSI Officer: We did find some other stuff in his pockets "(hands Green a bus transfer)"
Green: Bus transfer.
CSI Officer: Stops around the corner.
Briscoe: Shoulda took the subway.

Goofs

*During questioning, Dr. Raleigh says he received a finders fee of $500, but during direct examination in the trial he says he received a fee of $600.