New York City's first exhibit against a $5 million lawsuit by Dominique Sharpton, the daughter of MSNBC host and activist Al Sharpton, could very well be her own Instagram account, the New York Post reports.
On Saturday, less than three weeks after she filed a lawsuit against the city for spraining her ankle in a crosswalk last October and claiming she was in "permanent physical pain," Sharpton posted pictures of herself on top of a mountain in Bali, Indonesia, bragging she was "over the clouds ... into the SUNRISE."
One would assume climbing a large mountain halfway across the world wouldn't be advisable on a severely sprained ankle, but now that injury claim is in serious doubt thanks to Sharpton's social media exploits.
On May 17, the New York Post reported her April 29 lawsuit filed against the city's departments of Transportation and Environmental Protection stated she was "severely injured, bruised and wounded" from her accident, and she "still suffers and will continue to suffer for some time physical pain and bodily injuries."
Even before this, the Post revealed her claims of still suffering from her injury were dubious:
She was pictured in a walking boot in the weeks following the tumble, but by December, Dominique was good to go for NAN’s Justice for All march in Washington, DC, and for a New Year’s Eve jaunt to Miami Beach.
And despite claiming "permanent physical pain" in a breathless notice of claim, there are social-media shots of her in high heels, and another of her climbing a ladder to decorate a Christmas tree.
Sharpton serves as membership director for her father's group, the National Action Network. In the Post's article, CNN legal analyst Paul Callan compared the potential shakedown efforts by Sharpton to those of the reverend himself.
"It is starting to look like Tawana Brawley is orchestrating the Sharpton trial strategy," he said. "It graphically demonstrates bad judgment and good feet. It all adds up to no case."