Pool Photo/ Douglas Healey
(Update: 4:20 p.m.)The man accused of killing Dr. Vanjinder Toor had a photograph of the victim and Google directions to his house when he was arrested, according to an assistant state’s attorney.
Those details emerged in New Haven Superior Court on Elm Street on Tuesday, where Dr. Lishan Wang appeared on a charge of murder. Wang was arrested on Monday, after Dr. Toor was gunned down outside his Branford home.
Judge Roland Fasano kept Wang’s bond at $2 million. His case was transferred to Part A of Superior Court, where more serious cases are heard. His next court date was set for May 11.
Monday’s homicide capped an ongoing dispute between doctors Toor and Wang, who had a heated confrontation at a New York hospital two years ago that cost Dr. Wang his career, according to a lawsuit in federal court.
Thomas MacMillan Photo
Judicial marshals took Wang (pictured) in handcuffs into New Haven Superior Court on Elm Street Tuesday morning. He arrived in a van shortly before 11 a.m. Wang’s court appearance was delayed until Tuesday afternoon, to allow time for a Mandarin interpreter to arrive.
Wang was led into Courtroom B at 2:38 p.m. He walked in with his head down, wearing a blue sportcoat with gold buttons over a white zippered jumpsuit. He wore blue plastic booties over his feet. Flanked by two public defenders, and with three marshals standing ready behind him, Wang listened as the interpreter translated the proceedings for him. During the brief court appearance, Wang remained with his head down, blinking rapidly.
Pool Photo/ Douglas Healey
Bail Commissioner Sharon Moye-Johnson told the judge that Wang had declined to participate in an interview with her office. Given that Wang resides in Georgia, is not a citizen of the country, and is unemployed, Moye-Johnson recommended that his bail remain at $2 million.
Wang is married with three children and lives in Marietta Georgia, according to an arrest report.
Assistant State’s Attorney Devant Joiner agreed that bond should be set at $2 million. He told the judge Wang faces serious charges, has “limited ties to the area,” and is therefore considered a flight risk. Wang had guns with him when he was arrested, and shell casings found at the scene matched the guns, Joiner said. Police also found Google Earth directions to the complex where Dr. Toor lived and a photo of Toor, Joiner said.
Scott Jones, one of two public defenders assigned to represent Wang, said his client would like to reserve his right argue bond at a future date. He asked the judge to place Wang in protective custody.
Also Tuesday, CBS Atlanta reported that Dr. Wang’s wife, Lanma, had no idea that her husband had been arrested and was facing murder charges in New Haven. The couple lives in Marietta, Ga., in Cobb County. When told of the events in Branford, Mrs. Wang broke down and began to cry. Click here to read the account.
A Two-Year-Old Dispute
The two doctors first met when Dr. Toor, 33, served as chief resident and Dr. Wang, 44, served as a resident at Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center in Brooklyn. Dr. Toor was Dr. Wang’s boss. The confrontation took place at the hospital on May 15, 2008.
On that day, the two men had a heated argument over Dr. Wang’s failure to respond to calls while on hospital duty.
The fight between the Dr. Toor and Dr. Wang is outlined in the 23-page civil rights action that Dr. Wang filed against the hospital and is currently pending in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn. The complaint, which accuses the hospital of discriminatory actions against Dr. Wang because he is Chinese, seeks to reinstate his job, plus punitive damages. It was filed on July 28, 2009, nine months ago, and shortly after the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said it was unable to conclude that there were violations of federal statutes in the case.
Click here to read Dr. Wang’s complaint; click here for the hospital’s response.
Court documents detail the nature of the confrontation, and reveal that Dr. Wang became increasingly uncooperative in the court proceedings in the months leading up to Dr. Toor’s death.
Here are the details of the May 15, 2008 incident, as outlined by Dr. Wang’s attorney in his complaint:
“Dr. Vajinder,” as he was called in the complaint, told Dr. Wang that he had been looking for him for several hours in the afternoon, was unable to find him and that the nurses and other residents were unable to find him earlier that morning.” They were all upset. Dr. Wang denied the charges saying he had been readily available all day.
“Dr. Vajinder” pressed the issue, and engaged in a heated discussion with Dr. Wang after walking him from the emergency room towards the ICU and stopping in front of the security station in the hospital lobby,” the lawsuit says.
An hour after their encounter, “Dr. Vajinder” accused Dr. Wang “of threatening his safety by using hostile body language although he did not summon security to assist him. Dr. Vajinder also alerted the director of the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) who said ‘we will take action.’ Dr. Wang was then sent to a small room near a nursing station for the rest of the shift.”
A week later Dr. Wang was suspended with pay pending an investigation. In July, 2008, two months later, Dr.Wang was fired.
At the time of Dr. Toor’s murder, the civil lawsuit was bogged down in discovery issues resulting from Dr. Wang’s failure to comply with court orders requiring him to produce records concerning his employment, his medications and his finances, court records say.
Dr. Wang, a native of China, emigrated to the United States and has been a permanent resident since 2004, the lawsuit says. He began his residency in internal medicine at Kingsbrook on July 1, 2006, and was reappointed on July 1, 2007.
His problems became overt in the spring of 2008. According to the complaint in April , 2008, Dr. Wang accused Dr. Toor of singling out “two Chinese students and humiliating them verbally in front of all the other medical residents during a morning conference.”
The hospital’s response to the complaint essentially denies all the allegations. It says that when Dr. Wang “did not answer pages from the ICU on or about May 15, 2008, “Dr. Vajinder” was required to cover for plaintiff at the ICU, and that he subsequently asked Plaintiff to explain his whereabouts.”
“Refusal” To Comply
In the last few months, attorneys for the hospital were becoming increasingly concerned about Dr. Wang’s failure to comply with discovery production of materials the hospital viewed as essential to the case, according to court documents.
Last month, on March 10, 2010, Harris S. Freier, of Prosekauer Rose in New York City, the law firm representing the hospital, told U.S. District Court Judge Steven M. Gold that Dr. Wang has failed to identify his employers after he left Kingsbrook in 2008. Freier said the firm had information that Dr. Wang was a researcher in Georgia, where he lives. They were entitled to know more, Freier said.
In addition, Freier told the judge that Dr. Wang had refused to authorize or provide his medical and pharmaceutical records. He said the judge had previously ordered this information be given to Freier because Dr. Wang “alleges disability discrimination and seeks emotional distress damages.”
“Finally, plaintiff has steadfastly refused to provide information or documents concerning his income subsequent to the termination of his employment” with Kingsbrook. He asked the court to order the production of the documents within two days.
On February 23, 2010 at 7:46 p.m., Freier told Dr. Wang’s attorney, Christine A. Rodriguez, that he needed these documents; without them there would be a significant delay in deposing Dr. Wang. “We will go to court if necessary to enforce Dr. Wang’s discovery obligations.”
Rodriguez wrote back by e‑mail forty five minutes later that she was having difficulty getting this information from Dr. Wang. She said Dr. Wang did not have all these records readily available.
“You are assuming that Dr. Wang has many things in his possession, however, the reality of the situation is that he has had to move more than once since was fired to find work. As such, his possessions are not all in one location and some are not easily accessible,” she wrote in an e‑mail that is part of the court file.
Rodriguez sought to buy time on the documents while attempting to schedule depositions in the case. She asked to schedule the depositions of three physicians, then added: “I will subpoena Dr. Vajinder Toor. However, I will need dates that are good for you to attend the deposition in April as well so I can notice him accordingly.”
Dr. Toor’s deposition did not take place. Nor did any of the others.
The last document in the file, written by Attorney Rodriguez, is dated April 12. It asks Judge Gold to set either April 19 or May 6, as the next court date. Rodriquez says progress has been made on authorization for records, and says she needs to discuss “confidential information” with the court. She does not explain further.
At some point after he left Kingsbrook,he became a researcher for a company in Georgia where he lived. By then he had lost his license to practice medicine as a physician.
Monday at 7:50 a.m., Dr. Wang allegedly found Dr. Toor as he was leaving the condo that he and his wife had purchased in Branford last year, according to police.
The couple had one child and were expecting another. As his wife stood on the porch waving good-bye to her husband, Dr. Wang opened fire, police say.
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Read past stories on the Toor case: