Cyclist sues NYPD alleging cops wrongfully dole out red light tickets: Malicious and outrageous

This battle is shifting into high gear.NYPD patrols are wrongfully ticketing Big Apple cyclists who run red lights, despite laws already on the books allowing them to follow pedestrian crossing signals, a new federal lawsuit claims.Although cops have been increasingly issuing tickets to riders, it completely contradicts a local law passed by the City Council in 2019 that permits cyclists crossing intersections to “go with the walk” signals — not traffic lights — according to the federal suit filed on May 7 by cyclist Oliver Casey Esparza.“Despite this clear and unambiguous statute, the city maintains a policy and practice of detaining, ticketing, and prosecuting cyclists who lawfully ride through an intersection when the pedestrian control signal indicates white/walk,” the lawsuit reads.Lawyers for the cyclist are demanding that the city shell out damages to the “hundreds” who have been ticketed, detained or arrested as a result of the years-long dispute — and also educate misinformed NYPD rank and file with “immediate” training.For Esparza, the final straw came when he was slapped with a ticket last October, after crossing Third Avenue and East 42nd Street in Manhattan.

NYPD officer Kenney F.Vega issued him a summons for crossing the intersection during the white/walk pedestrian signal.Vega allegedly said he was “99 percent sure” Esparza was wrong about the 2019 law and issued him a $190 ticket – which apparently cited the wrong subsection of NYC traffic code “so it did not even apply to the alleged violation,” according to the lawsuit.The court filing also names NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch and her three predecessors, alleging the bigwigs knowingly violated New Yorkers’ civil rights.“This policy and practice is so consistent and widespread that it constitutes a custom or usage of which policymakers … must have been aware,” the suit claims, calling the ticketing “knowing, purposeful, malicious, and outrageous.”While ...