Remember the NYC Traffic Agent who was captured on camera by a NYC Councilman using his flashing lights to go get a cup of coffee last week? Well, WCBSTV asked Mayor Bloomberg a few questions about the incident. Below is their report:
The traffic agent accused of acting above the law — using flashing red lights to buy coffee and abusing those he tickets — is still on the job because Mayor Michael Bloomberg says it’s not in his pay grade to do something.
CBS 2 HD went one on one with hizzonor on Tuesday.
Bloomberg has a rule: one reporter one question. But CBS 2 HD had lots of questions Tuesday about Traffic Agent Daniel Chu, and why he’s still on duty.
CBS 2 HD: “Why is it acceptable to use your flashing lights to get a cup of coffee?”
Bloomberg: “It is not. It is clearly a violation of the rules. Next question.”
CBS 2 HD: “Number two: why is it acceptable for a traffic agent to be abusive to people?”
Bloomberg: “It is not, clearly a violation of the rules. Number three.”
CBS 2 HD: “Number three: why is he still on duty while this is being investigated?”
Bloomberg: “Because the police commissioner is responsible for the conduct of the people he supervises.”
CBS 2 HD: “He violated the rules by using his flashing red lights.”
Bloomberg: “Assuming you are correct, but we still have a system of justice in this country. We have to show somebody violated the rules.”
Okay, Mr. Mayor. But try this one: in a video obtained by CBS 2 HD it shows that in his rush to get a caffeine fix, Officer Chu never bothered to turn off his emergency lights when he went inside to get coffee.
And as for abusing people, how about giving Councilman Dan Halloran a ticket for taking incriminating pictures of him.
“He says ‘You’re going to take pictures of me? Well, I’m going to write you a summons,'” Halloran said back on Friday.
Or what about ticketing mourners at Gleason’s Funeral Home as the body was being moved.
“Traffic Agent Chu had a cigarette in his mouth, screaming at everybody,” said pallbearer and former NYPD officer Tim Dillon. “He took his cigarette and flicked it towards the area of the family and indiscriminately started scanning cars.”
CBS 2 HD: “It sends a bad message to people.”
Bloomberg: “It does, but you can’t have Ray Kelly stopping everything to go after one of 55,000 people on what is arguably something that is not life threatening.”
Councilman Halloran said Agent Chu is still on duty because he writes a lot of tickets.
“Unfortunately, it’s a dollar sign weighing the scales and that’s just not what’s supposed to happen,” Halloran said.
The mayor suggested CBS 2 HD go to the Police Department for answers. We did, but have not yet received a response.
4 Responses
Let’s see what happens when he tickets bloomberg’s car
“It does, but you can’t have Ray Kelly stopping everything to go after one of 55,000 people on what is arguably something that is not life threatening”
IT IS LIFE THREATENING WHEN HE THROWS YOU IN JAIL FOR 30 YEARS BECAUSE HE’S HAVING A BAD DAY!, lets investigate all the people he’s arrested and see whats really going on, the people that dont have money for a lawyer… he should serve life in prison.
Ridiculous, So we have the truth. Tickets are wriiten to bring money to the city and you could be escourting someone for burial but hey who cares. It’s there job to wrirs tickets. Disgusting
Why are we all upset? We did this to ourselves. The frum people voted in the mayor, and we voted in councilmen that approved the third term. Has the constituents made it clear that any councilman that votes for it wont be reelected we wouldn’t be facing this issue.
The gov’t of NYC is at war with its citizens, and most of us are to busy struggling to make a buck that we are not fighting back.
Where are all the left wing liberal judges when you need them? The city council should vote to withdraw all funding to the NYPD until this “officer” is fired.