Monday, November 21, 2005
Ever feel like "you just got screwed" ?
Well all that day I was fuming about that encounter with the police and holding a "red light ticket" in my hand.That is a 125.00 dollar fine with 2 points added to your license and an car insurance hike in premiums.My dilemma was to confirm my suspicions, cops were indeed rigging that traffic light to change red sort of like casting a fishing line into the water in hopes of catching a fish but in this case it was motorists.
Here's how it worked.From the Rainey gate driveway these cops would roll on the sensor activate the light then back up and hide behind trees and large bushes and wait as traffic whizzed by at 30/40/50 miles an hour past this "flashing yellow light".From 100 yards away a driver can notice no car in the gate driveway meaning the flashing yellow will remain flashing but NO, it would suddenly change to steady yellow (2.8 seconds) then red.Most drivers couldn't stop without possibly causing a rear ending accident other drivers paid no attention since this manually controlled is always flashing yellow from 6:pm to 9:am while the Bx.Zoo is closed.In all my 42 yrs. of driving I never came across a scam so wicked,so damaging,hurtful and costly.I mulled my options and summoned up the courage to file a complaint with NYPD Internal Affairs Division.I asked this question,"is it legal for a cop to rig a traffic light to go red" a light that by itself would not change.When they asked for the location I felt I just may get an investigation.
hell I had a ticket to fight.
Three days later at 6:30am I took a ride past the BxZoo and their they were,officers DeCora
and Neithardt.I park my car 100 yards from the Gate and watch,low and behold their they go
forward to activate the light then back up 30'to hide their patrol car from oncoming traffic thereby entrapping/encouraging motorists to run the light since they see no cops.Boom on go the turret lights and the front strobes and the chase is on,within 1 minute they stop the victim
who went through the light.Quickly a ticket is written and back to the Gate for another.Some
motorists were unfortunate victims,they got multiple summones (seat belt,expired stickers,broken tail lights,no insurance,no license and many others).So,with my suspicions confirmed I pondered my next move.
Here's how it worked.From the Rainey gate driveway these cops would roll on the sensor activate the light then back up and hide behind trees and large bushes and wait as traffic whizzed by at 30/40/50 miles an hour past this "flashing yellow light".From 100 yards away a driver can notice no car in the gate driveway meaning the flashing yellow will remain flashing but NO, it would suddenly change to steady yellow (2.8 seconds) then red.Most drivers couldn't stop without possibly causing a rear ending accident other drivers paid no attention since this manually controlled is always flashing yellow from 6:pm to 9:am while the Bx.Zoo is closed.In all my 42 yrs. of driving I never came across a scam so wicked,so damaging,hurtful and costly.I mulled my options and summoned up the courage to file a complaint with NYPD Internal Affairs Division.I asked this question,"is it legal for a cop to rig a traffic light to go red" a light that by itself would not change.When they asked for the location I felt I just may get an investigation.
hell I had a ticket to fight.
Three days later at 6:30am I took a ride past the BxZoo and their they were,officers DeCora
and Neithardt.I park my car 100 yards from the Gate and watch,low and behold their they go
forward to activate the light then back up 30'to hide their patrol car from oncoming traffic thereby entrapping/encouraging motorists to run the light since they see no cops.Boom on go the turret lights and the front strobes and the chase is on,within 1 minute they stop the victim
who went through the light.Quickly a ticket is written and back to the Gate for another.Some
motorists were unfortunate victims,they got multiple summones (seat belt,expired stickers,broken tail lights,no insurance,no license and many others).So,with my suspicions confirmed I pondered my next move.
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I was screwed over by this light as well on 8/12/1995 by Neithardt. I attempted to fight it in court. Unfortunately, I lost because I didn't show "reasonable doubt", but I did enjoy making Neithardt squirm on the stand -- I busted him TWICE for not having independent recollection and also embarrassed him in front of the judge for his actions.
The best part was that I was trying to get him to admit that he went into Rainey gate early on a Sunday morning before the zoo opened and did a U Turn and then waited, triggered the light and reversed. He didn't want to admit "how" he got to the location, so the judge asked him, "Did you walk there? Drive there? Fly there? -- it was hilarious. Neithardt started sweating...
I think the "reasonable doubt" argument would be possible if you showed evidence that the cops can't see the status of the traffic light that Eastbound traffic on Fordham Road would see.
I showed the judge a mock-up of the location, including the tree, and explained the danger of what the cops were doing, to no avail.
Seeing as people are being raped and mugged up the street in Belmont, it would be nice to have cops patrolling the streets instead of making money for the city. It's sad to hear that people are getting hurt because of the cops committing entrapment -- this is something out of the Dukes of Hazzard.
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The best part was that I was trying to get him to admit that he went into Rainey gate early on a Sunday morning before the zoo opened and did a U Turn and then waited, triggered the light and reversed. He didn't want to admit "how" he got to the location, so the judge asked him, "Did you walk there? Drive there? Fly there? -- it was hilarious. Neithardt started sweating...
I think the "reasonable doubt" argument would be possible if you showed evidence that the cops can't see the status of the traffic light that Eastbound traffic on Fordham Road would see.
I showed the judge a mock-up of the location, including the tree, and explained the danger of what the cops were doing, to no avail.
Seeing as people are being raped and mugged up the street in Belmont, it would be nice to have cops patrolling the streets instead of making money for the city. It's sad to hear that people are getting hurt because of the cops committing entrapment -- this is something out of the Dukes of Hazzard.
# posted by 
: Wed Dec 21, 04:19:00 PM EST
: Wed Dec 21, 04:19:00 PM EST Links to this post:
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