Enraged NYPD Traffic Agent Accused of Racist Assault

This Chinatown surveillance video depicts a heated altercation between an NYPD traffic agent and a car owner on Lafayette Street around 3:15 p.m. on October 8th. The video appears to show irate traffic agent Twana Chapman striking driver Qiang Nian Zhu after he tried to cover his registration sticker, so Chapman could not scan it. A crowd gathers, and Chapman is seen getting in one bystander's face, as another traffic agent pulls her away. But because there is no audio, it's not possible to verify an allegation that Chapman also made racist remarks.

Witnesses tell Fox that besides striking Zhu in the face with her scanner, Chapman angrily cursed at the bystanders. According to one account, she shouted, "You f------ Chinese, go back where you came from. All of you f------ Chinese!"

Zhu says it all started when he saw Chapman poised to ticket his car, and he told her he still had one minute left on his NYC parking receipt, displayed on his car's dashboard. He also told Chapman his wife was buying another ticket at the Munimeter down the block. After she struck him, he says he put his hands in his pockets so he could not be accused of assaulting her.

Nevertheless, he was arrested when the traffic agents called cops the scene, and is charged with obstruction of governmental administration and harassment. But maybe it was all worth it, because in the end he never got the parking ticket! The NYPD insists no one filed a complaint about racial epithets.

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By John Del Signore in News on October 21, 2009 10:09 AM

Comments [rss]

savior78

oh and to felix mi amigo: "You f------ Mexican, go back where you came from. All of you f------ Mexican!" i'm definitely not a racist... i love mexicans! ;)

savior78

and why don't lower-class black americans call "chinese" people asians? can we get away with calling blacks "nigerians"? is calling hispanics "mexicans" kosher? why are we so over-protective of blacks in america??? oh yeah, i forgot. they went through so much $hit. just don't call whites "german", got that?

ilovejapgirls

why didn't anyone say "go back to africa" ??

savior78

if zhu had used the n-word on her... would he be called a racist? or how about in reverse: "You f------ African, go back where you came from. All of you f------ African!" it this statement is not racist, then i'll start using it right away. hehehe

ra23h

youkeero t'odon ho twa m'e

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ra23h me'a plose

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شبكة الرائعه

ra23h yut poe luas

DOLPHIN

There is obviously a guy there capturing the whole incident with his cell phone. Please post it for the world to see!!!

fixilator

If, legally speaking, assault is:

"...any gesture or action designed to physically intimidate..."

then the traffic cop is plainly assaulting the Asian woman whose face she is getting in, screaming at her.

This is not a race issue. If it's true that the parking receipt had a minute left on it, then the traffic agent was just being lazy, trying to get another ticket under her belt without having to walk 10 more steps. Lazy, fat-ass cop. What else is new??

Unbelievable how many here are defending the completely unbalanced, aggressive, unprofessional POS meter maid.

Dwayne Hoover

Is this her, "Queeny" from Brooklyn?:

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000129682097

ribaldry

Typical NYPD, zero respect for citizens. They arrest first and make up charges after.

dadoc

Not getting into some of the funky things on this thread, but what's up with the weird contrasts on the video? is that how PD & TEA's show up, IR maybe? looked 1960ish.

valeriob

Gregory Butler wrote exactly that here. You copy+pasted it.

Amanda Harletsch

...and this post makes a perfect example of the lack of decent higher education that many people in this City display so proudly.

There are some jewels of stupidity that shine in its absurd simplistic glory.

But would the authors even be slightly aware of their obscene provincialism?

sowhtifithppnsitwll

20 years ago it was a misdemeanor to assault a traffic agent. Now it is treated the same as assault on a peace officer, upped to a felony.