Robert Hudson: Did NYC Police Walk Black Man, 72, to Death?

At this point, it's a deadly case of he-said, she-said but a few points aren't being disputed:

Robert Hudson (pictured right), 72, is dead; Doris (pictured left), his wife of 50 years, is angry and grieving; and officers of the New York City police department in Queens were involved.

Whether police forced Robert Hudson to walk half a mile in the snow to his death, as Doris claims, will be subject of a wrongful death lawsuit against police.

Doris Hudson said that she and her husband were sitting in their car in front of a Queens Village pharmacy January 14th, when two officers approached and cited Doris for not wearing her seat belt.

Doris said she was wearing a seat belt but didn't have her identification. She said the officers wouldn't let Robert drive to get her ID and forced Robert to walk a half-mile back to their house through snow and cold to retrieve the paperwork.

Though the officers eventually left Doris at the scene, Robert suffered a heart attack behind the wheel of the car as he drove off.

He later died at a nearby hospital.

Police say they never ordered anyone to walk home to get ID and said Mr. Hudson decided to walk home on his own.

Your heart has to go out to Doris Hudson. She and her husband go out to fill a prescription, not bothering anyone, and have their lives shattered because she may (or may not) have been wearing a seat belt.

But in defense of the police, it's hard to envision them ordering Robert Hudson to walk from the car to his home to pick up her ID. What sounds far more likely is that Robert Hudson was mad, real mad that police stopped him for such a minor transgression.

He probably was so angry that he stormed off in a huff to get the ID to show the officers they were doing nothing more than harassing two elderly folks who wanted nothing more than to fill a prescription.

Unfortunately, our interactions with the police are often brutal and tragic. There was the case last fall of college student Danroy Henry, who was shot to death by police in a odd scuffle with his car. Then there was Askia Sabur, who was beaten by police for two minutes until his arm was fractured. And who could forget honor student and violinist Jordan Miles, who had police tear off his dreadlocks while walking home from his grandmother's.

As for the Robert Hudson case, it will be up to the courts to decide if police walked him to his death.

Watch the sad story here: