A tree grows in Brooklyn. And the fruit doesn’t fall far from the tree, at least when it comes to the National Action Network. It seems that Dominique Sharpton, daughter of the famed MSNBC host and organizer of endless anti-cop marches and events, took a spill last year on the public streets. In the process she turned her ankle. And now, if the taxpayers of the Big Apple can manage to pass the hat, she would like this tragic situation set to rights. (From the New York Post)

Shakedown artist Al Sharpton’s eldest child wants $5 million from city taxpayers after she fell in the street and sprained her ankle, court rec­ords show.

Dominique Sharpton, 28, says she was “severely injured, bruised and wounded” when she stumbled over uneven pavement at the corner of Broome Street and Broadway downtown last year, according to a lawsuit.

Currently on vacation in Bali, the membership director for her gadfly dad’s National Action Network claims she “still suffers and will continue to suffer for some time physical pain and bodily injuries,” according to the suit filed against the city departments of Transportation and Environmental Protection.

“I sprained my ankle real bad lol,” she wrote in a post to Instagram after the Oct. 2 fall.

The Post does a good job of describing how the severely injured Sharpton offspring later went on several marches and was seen, “in high heels and fancy dresses and climbing a ladder to decorate a Christmas tree.” But the pain of a turned ankle can never be truly understood by those who haven’t carried that burden, I suppose.

This entire affair reminds me of a story which I would like to relate to you younguns this weekend. (Just don’t sit on my lawn while listening.) Back in the winter of 2011 I was taking Mr. Basset out for a short walk on a particularly cold and unpleasant afternoon. It had been raining and sleeting on and off the temperature was consistently at or below freezing. On our walk that day I fell… very hard. I bruised myself up pretty well and re-injured a long standing problem with my left knee. It happened a short ways along the next block up from ours and the owners of the house saw me and helped me back up and assisted me with getting myself and the dog back home. Anyone who remembers seeing me at CPAC that year (which was a week or so after) will recall that I was on a cane for the entire event and had a hard time getting around. I’d gone to the doctor and gotten some short term therapy and pain killers, but it was mostly just part of getting old and putting up with the pains and creaks that come along with that. (Breaking your legs on a motorcycle at a young age and getting early arthritis doesn’t help much either, kids.)

It was the last year of Mr. Basset’s life, but I ran into that neighbor again after I returned from DC and was mostly up and around. The hound and I were walking by and the owner came out to ask how I was and offered me a card for his attorney. He mentioned that he had not heard from me or any representative of mine. I realized at that point that he fully expected that I was going to sue him.

It was rather shocking to me. It had never once crossed my mind to take him to court or try to soak his insurance company for any cash. I had medical insurance and hadn’t required a lot of work, and that was pretty much covered. I had been out on an icy day wearing sneakers with no traction. (I have since invested in stretch spikes which I wear in the winter constantly.) The point is, it was an accident. It wasn’t his fault that I had fallen on my hip and leg. I was out walking on sheer ice after an ice storm. I had been foolish, and sometimes foolish people pay for their foolishness. I learned a lesson, which can still happen when you are old, believe it or not.

I thanked him and moved on and we’ve never spoken of it again. He wasn’t a close friend… really just somebody I knew from my walks around the neighborhood. But it never would have come to my mind to take him to court. When I see stories like this one with Sharpton’s daughter, I have to wonder what gets into people’s minds. I understand that sometimes there are situations where neglect and malpractice of various forms can cause injuries which justify compensation. But there are also random accidents and unfortunate things which happen when we act in a foolish fashion. Suing someone over that seems simply wrong.