Talk about crushed hoop dreams: A teenager from East New York is suing the city for "several millions" after breaking his knee while playing basketball on a supposedly faulty school court in 2010.
Dion Richardson, 16, a then 6-foot-1 eighth grader at Middle School 51 in Park Slope, says he fell on a two-inch hole while taking a jump shot during a pick up game. Despite undergoing two surgeries and spending months in a cast, Richardson claims his knee never healed correctly, and he won't be able to try for the basketball career he'd planned. "I wanted to go to the pros," Richardson said after testifying at Brooklyn Supreme Court on Friday. "Now everything is messed up." Richardson testified that he still has to use a cane three or four days a week.
The city says that Richardson fell on the other side of the court away from the hole, and that they are not responsible for his injury.
