Maybe the car belongs to one of his officers

Wasnt this guy actively going around and fucking with cars….while also blogging about it?

>“We as officers can only write summonses to vehicles we personally observe — not a picture,” said Souffrant

That's actually a legit argument because the summons requires the officer to attest to personally observing the covered plate.

But since the attorney got arrested, if the attorney later introduces those photos as evidence, and that's accepted by the court, can't the police use that evidence to issue the violation to the driver retroactively?

I think the driver would also have to attest to what was damaged in the first place, and by doing so, admit that the plate was covered, right?

You cant touch someones property, and remove something that doesnt belong to you. Why are bike riders so entitled?

NYPD: we can't arrest the guy who was caught on video murdering a roomful of children because our officers didn't see it happen.

EDIT: Sorry! Just a hypothetical! Cops arrest people based on witness testimony and video/pictures all the time.

When you say ‘this guy’ you know that’s Adam White, NYC’s #1 bike lawyer, right?

The NYPD is definitely going to lose this case, might take a while though.

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A license plate is the property of the state.

I haven’t heard a complaint from them, have you? I think they would be more interested in the person who obscured their property in the first place.

Sorry I can’t get past “famed bike lawyer”

Bike law!

Is that name supposed to have any meaning to me? Are you his publicist?

It's real. It says this on a summons:

>I personally observed the commission of the offense charged herein.

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That tracks: https://www.nycourts.gov/mysummons-nyc/Summons.pdf

>I personally observed the commission of the offense charged herein. False statements made herein are punishable as a Class A Misdemeanor pursuant to section 210.45 of the Penal Law. Affirmed under penalty of law.

So if the officer attested to that falsely he/she would be committing a misdemeanor.

I've edited my original comment to reflect the above.

You do realize I’m Charlie Kelly, Philadelphia’s #1 bird lawyer, right? I’m well-known in the Philly bird community.

No, I have no idea who you are or if you even live in the city.

Adam White is well known in the NYC cyclist community: www.vaccaroandwhite.com

Why are drivers so entitled to think that they shouldn’t have to pay tolls or be on the hook for camera-enforced tickets?

I think the point is more that the cops specifically avoid looking for these infractions. You can’t issue the ticket if you didn’t witness the infraction? Fine, whatever. But then respond to the 311 or issue the tickets when you do witness the infraction. Why do you think these drivers are so confident in their scofflaw approach, anyway?

So why does his cycling status grant him the freedom to tamper with people property?

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At first I assumed you were being facetious. But glad I checked.

No because the officer would still need to state they observed the original violation personally. Photos of a violation even if used as court evidence would not enable an officer to issue the summons

You afraid he's gonna remove your license plate covering and you'll get a surprise ticket in the mail or something?

How can you be this dumb? 🤣

Police reform needs to lead the next NYC election. They've gone from public servants to public nuisance. No more ex-NYPD goons as mayor.

Dont have one and never have. But i dont trust this nutjob not to go running around tampering with plates or just cars in general.

You cyclists have a screw loose

What?

The lawyer is not the famous one, they just represent famed bikes.

They need to personally observe the crime, so they shouldn't have arrested him, they did not observe the defacing.

Wrong , they have to observe a violation not a crime . Try again

I have an idea. How about we put license plates on bicycles, and new bike cameras at every intersection. Every time a biker passes a red light, or rides on the wrong side of the street, we mail a $50 ticket to their house. See how quickly you change your tune, lmao!

Poor educational system or they just like whippets a lot..

Cringe.

So what you’re saying is you think drivers should be able to skip tolls and run red lights?

Lmao psycho drivers are going around concealing their plates so they can speed, run red lights, not pay tolls and park illegally and your issue is with the people actually doing something to address the issue, which the police insist on ignoring. Hope you’re not the next person killed by some asshole with obscured plates!

The point is that it’s a stupid excuse. The cops don’t need to physically witness a crime to make an arrest, but they use it as an excuse

Oh i thought this exact situation happened. But yes it’s on brand for the nypd

Just call his cell phone a "traffic cam" and that should fix it.

The fuck? I have been issued a ticket for running a red light on my bike. Sounds like you are just a grossly irresponsible driver, but the difference between us that you are 1000x more likely to kill someone in your car.

I generally think that it should be free to use a public road or bridge. You cool with putting license plates on bikes, and cameras in all the bike lanes? :)

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I won’t answer your questions if you won’t answer mine.

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More likely to get hit by a cyclist blowing through red lights

Source? Even if what you just said is true, which it isn’t, please bring up the fatality statistics or STFU

If i get hit by a cyclist and dont die that doesnt mean it didnt happen.

If some cyclist speeds into a parked car and causes thousands in damages thats still a problem. Both situations ive dealt with.

Frankly cyclists and cycling culture are kind of toxic

I literally can’t get abandoned cars towed that are making it so the streets can’t be cleaned but they have the manpower to arrest this activist for removing a piece of trash? How do we work with the NYPD when this is how we are treated? I’m not faulting an individual officer (most are just doing their job) but the NYPD as an entity is completely tone deaf when it comes to working with the average resident. It’s his is disgusting and they are doubling down on hypocrisy. We basically have 2 cities and two sets of rules at this point and it’s infuriating.

So you don’t have a source for the claim you just pulled out of your ass, got it.

One would think that you could build a boutique practice around PI for bicycle accidents.

Maybe not that exclusively but doesn't seem that strange to me.

edit: This is the guy, right?

Its more than the wild hyperbole you present. Screeching that plate covers are running around killing us all isnt a source for anything.

That was pretty clear from the start, though, right?

The folks that are upset that the lawyer isn’t still in jail for looking at a car the wrong way aren’t the brightest bulbs.

Real estate developers are jealous of the amount of corruption the NYPD gets away with

There is literally no lawful/innocent reason to cover your plates, and I’m really sorry if that fact hurts your feelings. As I said before, sure hope you’re not the next NYer to die from out of control drivers. Peace ✌🏻

Fucking with cars? He was peeling stickers off defaced plates. GTFO

No, it’s legality. Penal law misdemeanors and felonies don’t need to be personally observed by a police officer, hence testimony and video evidence. Violations are not the same thing. They are generally minor infractions, falling below the level of misdemeanor, which need to be observed by a police officer.

I have no idea.

The NYPD will be their own downfall. My view of police took a nose dive after having experience with them. I once was just looking at the light bar of a cruiser (it was a novel one) and I had a cop stare me down and come knock on my window and ask “what my problem was” and then was told to “move along” while I was stuck in bumper to bumper traffic. I’ve also seen NYPD yell and threaten people who were 50 feet away filming an arrest.

Don’t get me started on all the police that park wherever they want. . . NYPD has no integrity.

We? Who is we?

Theres not lawful/innocent reason to take it upon yourself to tamper with people property. Make sure to stop at red lights and follow vtl like you are legally mandated to

No. That's a journalist who started a series to show how insane this is.

He, edited

Can we aggregate pictures of these license plates? Present it as a package? To show how big the problem is?

NYPD organizational reform or bust next election cycle.

I was a Kathryn Garcia voter, but I always felt that if we were to get Adams, at least he would be the most uniquely situated to enact meaningful police reform if he wanted to with his background and we’d likely see some progress there.

HOOOOOOOOOOO BOY! Was I wrong!

Maybe?

Yup. Nobody likes a hypocrite. And you can’t demand respect, you have to earn it. They need to start by following the laws they are supposed to enforce instead of this ‘rules for thee, not for me’ attitude they’ve had in NYC for decades. It starts with the little stuff. Park legally. Wear a mask in the subways when you’re supposed to. Don’t double park for your donut. Follow the rules themselves and I think they’d see more New Yorkers giving them genuine respect, and real credibility along with it.

Ah ok got it. Either way dont touch what doesn’t belong to you

From the article, it seems that the issue is the lack of personnel to respond to 311 calls appropriatelly.

>“The problem is there isn’t an additional set of officers, … so in terms of priority, we’re gonna respond to [a 911 call] first and then once we’re done we eventually return and respond to the 311,” said Souffrant.

I think the solution is to have more people who have the power to issue summons?

On another post we had officers with guns to check fare evasion. I don't think a full blown cop should be needed to issue a citation.

I tend to mostly be a "lesser of two evils" voter, but there's not a day that goes by that I don't think Garcia would have been a thousand times better than Adams, who I knew would be a disaster (and he's still below my expectations of him).

At no point did I expect him to improve crime or the NYPD situation.

Like motorists do? Please.

Lmao

A successful career cop is only there because they are especially complicit in the corruption and gang like behavior of policing. Any law enforcement officer suggesting they’ll keep their own accountable is gaslighting you.

I remember when Michael Ameri was captain of the 78th precinct and was the one cop in the city who cared about cyclists enough to chew out his reports for parking in that little protected lane behind the Doughnut Plant building, and would always make sure that it was shoveled of snow in the winter.

A few years later he was found in his car on Long Island, dead of an "apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head". Something something the only good cop...

Anyone else remember that?

Ex-cop doesn’t want to reform the cops? ShockedPikachuFace.png

If only there was a division of the police that was charged with handling just traffic and vehicle related issues and not the whole spectrum of police responsibilities

Yeah, uh-huh, like I believe a word out of a cop’s mouth.

This is just a way to dodge responsibility. If personnel were a problem, they wouldn’t falsify public records by closing 311 calls out so quickly as “no issue observed.”

BS. A portion of 311 calls should be answered. Assign a few patrol cars to it. No precinct is so busy that all the cops are answering 911 calls 24/7. The Percentage of 311 calls investigated should be on the Mayor’s and Commissioner’s morning reports.

I went to these guys when I had a bike accident and being harassed by the cars insurance company. Super great guys, nothing came of it but genuine people that made an impression on me.

>“no issue observed.”

lol, that may be factually true, but it doesn't say they didn't send any person to try to observe it.

License plates belong to the state, pal.

> gaslighting you

*straight-up lying

Vtl applies to everyone even cyclists

> You cant touch someones property

License plates belong to NYSDMV, they're not the property of the owner

This is the same precinct that can't find the guy harassing people and beating dogs to death in the Park because they don't answer 911 calls right?

Maybe we could call them “The Police Who are Charged with Handing Just Traffic and Vehicle-Related Issues And Not The Whole Spectrum of Police Responsibilities”

Or “TPWACWHJTAVRIANTWSOPR” for short

deBlasio asked them to stop targeting black people and then went on an 8 year press campaign against him in the NYPost that made him the least popular mayor in NYC history.

No politician will EVER try to reform the police again. Just like no politician will ever try to embed mental health programs in existing city agencies and services. They all learned what the punishment is from watching deBlasio.

LOL. Anyone even remotely invested in politics knew Adams was not only going to ignore police reform but enable behavior ruining the police's reputation with the public.

Imagine expecting the guy who allowed his staffers to print bogus placards so they could park on sidewalks to go after "the bad apples" in the police force. He does not care.

You’re talking about the suv owner, right?

There were reports by Streetsblog if I recall of 311s getting closed in minutes while the complainant was still watching the offending vehicles. I suspect both cases happen, officers close a case without doing any action (such as observing), and they are so delayed they do drive by at some point and the original issue is gone.

I think it'd be highly unpopular to allow cops to issue summons for any violation they have not witnessed.

The whole case is ridiculous. Officers use discretion all the time, like give a driver a warning for speeding, how these officers took this seriously, over pennies worth of plastic, that was removed and not even damaged afaik, is crazy to me. If I responded to this I would have laughed, asked the driver are they okay? And left. Cops do not even respond to potential multi-thousand dollar damage fender benders anymore unless someone was imaged, but this driver got them to the scene in record time, okay...

you thought a cop would hold cops accountable LOL

Must be time for the daily streetsblog clickbait post

That's....not how any of this works, and anybody upvoting you is a knucklehead

What makes it clickbait?

Let me rephrase a little bit... I was hopeful he would enact police reform. And I very seriously follow politics and I don't think this was too naive a hope. He definitely was going to come down hard on crime and have a very aggressive stance on policing, but I hoped he could work both sides of that knife's edge.

After DeBlasio came in guns blazing screaming 'all cops are bad' essentially, he was done as far as police reform went right out of the gate. They were never, never going to listen to him. I was hopeful, that Adams might be smarter. I was hopeful that maybe he was smart enough to not scream for police reform from the rooftops like De Blasio did, but would quietly work to make change. And elements of his history are there to make you think he might do that.

That Adams, with his backstory of growing up in NYC, having a tough run in with cops at a young age, founding 100 blacks in law enforcement, etc... That if he wanted to, he was very uniquely positioned to make change.He had all the right parts to be both listened to by cops AND the general public. IF, and it was always an IF to me, he had the will. But hopeful was probably my overall sentiment about it, he still had a lot of career politician stink on him.

Now this far into his tenure I realize that hope was just that, and will never be more.

I definitely see where you’re coming from, I just can’t get behind that. He was always abusive of whatever power he had, and ready to fuck anyone over for a buck. His track record is not good

We do that all the time when there's a photo, such as the red light cameras.

Its unbelievable to me that he was elected. He was openly hostile to the press and his own constiuents during the campaign. The trend of politicians being the worst possible people we can put into office is really upsetting, but I thought NYC was smarter, collectively.

Just another fire burning during the Last Days of Rome.

Every Mayor for the last 40 years has had public disputes with the NYPD

Including Guiliani

I doubt Adams will avoid that; just aint happened yet.

Serious question—how can we have people like this removed from their position of power? The lack of common sense leaving this guys mouth, that is the captain of this precinct is scary. For crying out loud…they can’t even arrest a person that killed a woman’s dog! What more proof do you need?! NYC policing needs serious reform, and sometimes it feels like such a long way until we get there. Trusting police with any shred of help or common sense is a thing of the past, which is a scary (and infuriating) thing to think about.

911 call has to be handled before 311 calls. There are 30k 911 calls in the city every day.

>at least he would be the most uniquely situated to enact meaningful police reform if he wanted to with his background and we’d likely see some progress there.

I'm so sorry and I don't mean to sound this mean, but this is absolutely one of the most naïve things I have ever heard. Cops always look out for their own. Reform? That's basically treason. Also come on, it's Eric Adams.

Uh if that park is in the 78.

De Blasio screwed up by being so loud and vocal about it. He came into office screaming from the rooftops for anybody who would listen that the cops were bad. Playing up the story of worrying about his black son with police stops... He embarrassed the cops. In my opinion they deserve it, and his complaints were totally just ones, but if you want to get anything out of them I don't think you can do that. A smart Mayor would keep it quiet, but when contract negotiations come around work it hard.

There are 30k 911 calls a day in NYC. Thats pretty busy.

Yeah but I mean, be real, did you think he wanted to? That if in "if he wanted to" was a big if imo...

(Also a Garcia voter.)

Maybe bears shit in the woods

And the program where you can report idling trucks by uploading a video? Is that not a minor infraction?

Right. That was the million dollar question. He had the perfect resume to do it is my point. Nobody was positioned as well to be a police reformer as him. The big if was if he wanted to do it. I thought it was in the realm of possibility… worth hoping for for sure. Would I have bet money on it? No.

They manipulated their way around the NY State Constitution with those things. Like red light cameras and speed cameras, they ticket the vehicle not the person driving it.

They regularly falsify 311 call records. They say they responded and the offender was gone or that no action was necessary when the condition is still observable.

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This appears to be incorrect. CPL § 140.10 requires that a petty offense be witnessed by the officer for an arrest to be made, but it doesn't say the same about the issuance of a ticket. And People v Boback (23 N.Y.2d 189 (N.Y. 1968)), a NY Appellate Division court held that a traffic ticket could be issued based on information and belief.

Oh they can issue a ticket for anything, it will get thrown out immediately by nyc judges. I assume that has more to do with issuing a summons over the summons being upheld. I think you’d need to post the entire case for full context.

Similar happened to me. I was showing a friend how to spot an unmarked Ford Taurus. Pointing to the strobe in the grill, the “federal” steel wheels and then pretty much what you said happened.

Teddy Roosevelt was the last civilian who meaningfully reformed NYPD, over a century ago. And he did it by first going after the police union bosses.

But god forbid you’re within coughing distance of a fire hydrant and traffic will write you before you even step out of the car. They just stand around make traffic worse than actually write people that deserve it.

Summonses are in lieu of arrest. It’s tantamount to the same thing in the eyes of the law.

felonies and misdemeanors require a burden of proof known as “probable cause.” violations and infractions must be observed.

Sigh. Criminal mischief(property damage) is a misdemeanor/felony. It requires no direct observation but rather an officer can reach probably cause based on evidence. Violations or infractions must be personally observed.

It’s crazy because if I’m not mistaken there is a totally separate court and police system for taxis. There is an actual app you can download to report things (with a picture) and surprisingly they work pretty fast and keep you up to date.

I’ve used it a bit as a cyclist but also to report them blocking emergency service ramps. They might call you to act as a witness via the phone but honestly no one I’ve reported ever really went to court. Kinda nutty considering it comes out to like a $500 fine for them blocking lanes illegally.

A similar system should be put in place with NYPD since they’ve got a much larger force than the taxi branch. I mean if they don’t want to do the leg work I’m sure there’s tons of regular citizens that can start it off like this lawyer.

So he decided to mess with someone's car. While they were sitting in the car. Then waited for the police to show up.

Karen no longer cuts it. We need a new word for this guy.

Feel free to read the actual case law that contradicts you.

And yet they had time to prosecute the guy for clearing up a license plate.

Defeatest attitude of pissed off cops gets adjustment and they cannot accept it preferring to stay in their dudgeon. Cops blatantly ignore heinous scofflaw refusing to issue ticket. Instead they turn around to attack the 'messenger'.

Cops Arrest Famed Bike Lawyer For Fixing a Driver’s Obscured License Plate

By Julianne Cuba Nov 14, 2022 25 COMMENTS

https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2022/11/14/cops-arrests-bike-lawyer-for-fixing-a-drivers-obscured-license-plate/

There's a great story about Roosevelt doing his own detective work and finding out that the NYPD's most prolific officer was also NYC's biggest criminal. Dude was literally paying other people to commit robberies and then solving his own crimes for clout.

Because it was a probably a 911 call

So I like that you’re on the right track but the issue lies with the courts. An officer can not submit a summons returnable to a court based on an accumulation of evidence without the presence of expert testimony in court regarding this. At the time of this case law the criminal court handled this case thus it was proceeded by a prosecutor who could call upon an expert witness. This is not done in NYC therefor there is a statement which essentially overrides the Case law.

“I personally observed the commission of the offense charged herein. False statements made herein are punishable as a Class A Misdemeanor pursuant to section 210.45 of the Penal Law. Affirmed under penalty of law.”

In NYS moving violations are returnable to the DMV TVB which an officer must have a burden of proof of “Clear and Convincing Evidence” based exclusively on their observation.

Parking violations are essentially fines sent direct to the Dept of Finance. I’m sure they have a judge somewhere but hearings are direct with an administrative law judge. Therefor personal observation is necessary, as well as generally immediate service of complaint.

OATHs (civil court summonses) DO allow for ticketing based on non observance. One of the most common is “failure to yield to a pedestrian” when it is determined a motorist struck a pedestrian in the crosswalk when the driver had green and pedestrian had a walk signal.

State troopers upstate DO issue moving summonses based on conclusions arrived at during accidents but these are jurisdictions that have their summonses returned to a local criminal court.

In summation. Local courts created summonses which are legal complaints (exception of OATH) which state on the complaint that the issuer did personally observe. If an officer endorsed it, it violates CPL 210.45 which constitutes perjury.

Imfamous

Summonses are invitations to appear in court.

You're on the right track but a little confused in terminology.

oh shit really

I call 311 for city services ie sanitation, no heat or hot water. 911 is for the police. The license plate is bs. I don’t understand why the District Attorney did not refuse to prosecute on their end. I hope the judge reams everyone a new hole for wasting the court’s time. Unless there is more to this story than the news is giving us?

Which part

What happens if the whistleblower called 911 instead? Saying something like the car looks suspicious. (Not advocating for this, as it may be misconstrued as something more dangerous and misappropriate emergency resources. OTOH, calling 311 seemed to not work at all here.)

Then the cops would have responded to the 911 call

Not praising Adams here, but let's not forget that Manhattan voters also elected Bragg as DA. Also, bail reform. Police work won't help much when criminals are being turned loose the day after being caught.

The key phrase is “if he wanted to”

"911, there is a suspicious vehicle."
"What's suspicious about it?"
"Uh, the license plate has some dirt on it."
"Please call 311 and stop bothering us."

Or, refuse to elaborate and hang up in hopes they do something. But they might send a bomb squad or antiterrorist team, and things may escalate not in the intended way, also may have negative consequences for the caller. (Although on a karmic level, these assholes absolutely deserve a visit from a SWAT team.)

You dont say.

Always more to the story

same

That is alarming. Do you have a link? I frequent that path

Sadly this is never going to happen.

Yeah I knew he was a crook, and I didn't vote for him because of it, but I also knew he was batshit crazy and expected him to at least do some things that were terrible and funny at the same time because of it. So far too much terrible, not enough funny.

NYPD has become a fucking joke

The Newday article about his death actually made mention of his community-minded street changes in the last few paragraphs: https://www.newsday.com/long-island/michael-ameri-nypd-inspector-found-dead-on-li-cops-say-q90719

You'll find a bunch more articles if you google his name, he had been a degree or two away from a corruption probe several months prior so that's always mentioned as a possible factor, though he himself was not a subject of any investigation. It was all fishy as fuck.

See my reply to the other comment for an old article about it.

damn. RIP

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How do you go through life saying things that stupid and delusional?

Awww yes CAPTAIN Frantz, commander of the 78 which acts more like a high school than a police force. “More babies produced than crimes solved”, an adult daycare where taxpayers pay adults 6 figures to flirt and fuck each other

https://nypost.com/2022/10/03/top-nyc-cop-played-favorites-for-precinct-mistresses-lawsuit/amp/

Cops are a joke except when it concerns themselves.

No politician has the guts to take on the NYPD now.

FIFA is jealous of the amount of corruption the NYPD gets away with.

Yet they responded to one about a vandalism to a license plate?

Summonses that are violations, such as disorderly conduct, or any other offense outlined in the penal code as a violation Not parking summonses or any other city administrative code.