Matter of Winston W

In Matter of Winston W. (29 AD3d 473 [1st Dept 2006] the majority opinion noted that the complainant had been punched in the face and other parts of the body, kicked and bitten. He was treated at an emergency room where he was given antibiotics and Motrin for a headache which continued the following day. Justice McGuire's dissenting opinion noted that the presentment agency had claimed only that the dispositional hearing evidence was legally sufficient to establish "substantial pain" (rather than an impairment of physical condition). He recounted that the complainant sustained contusions, a cut-lip, a scratch and a small bite on the back. He pointed out, however, that the complainant's headache had lasted only until the following day, that he did not testify to the degree of his pain and that emergency room records recounting the degree of that pain on a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 being the worst possible pain) indicated his pain was "0."