Last week, the story of a 21-year-old female student who was arrested and held by NYPD for 36 hours for not carrying ID outraged many people—even if the arresting officers didn't do anything explicitly illegal, most agreed it was an unnecessary and unwarranted abuse of power, and the fact that none of the officers stepped up to let Samantha Zucker free during her 36 hour ordeal was even worse. But now the NY Times reports that the president of the Sergeants Benevolent Association can explain what happened: Zucker was just a casualty of the ticket-fixing scandal. more ›

A Long Island police officer pleaded guilty to making a woman touch his clothed private parts in exchange for not ticketing her friend. Garrett Mannerz, 34, who resigned from the Nassau County Police Department and was sentenced to 80 hours of community service, was arrested after the victim recorded one of the phone calls he made her. Nassau County DA Kathleen Rice siad, "Nassau County is a safer place with Garrett Mannerz off the police force." more ›

Extending the courtesy of ticket-fixing to fellow officers, pepper-spraying peaceful protesters, and planting drugs on innocent suspects to meet arrest quotas are but three of the NYPD's less savory on-the-job exploits which have been put under the microscope via recent high-profile cases. But the NYTimes' Jim Dwyer points us in the direction of one person's smaller story of a particularly frivolous arrest which seems just as ridiculous as those bigger cases: a 21-year-old female student was arrested and held by NYPD for 36 hours for not carrying ID. And as Dwyer so simply puts it, once she finally reached a courtroom, "the judge proceeded to dismiss the ticket in less than a minute." more ›

Bed-Stuy restaurant Do or Dine, last seen raising the ire of vegans with their foie gras-filled doughnuts, are making waves again today, this time with the local police. We spoke to chef Justin Warner to find out what went down after he got caught riding his tricycle on the sidewalk near his restaurant. more ›

There is "bad" topless, like certain congressmen who feel the need to sext pics of their gym face to blackjack dealers and porn stars. And then there is elusive, magical, perfectly legal toplessness: this week, a woman, since nicknamed "Topless Bowery Woman," took a causal stroll in lower Manhattan sans shirt in the sweltering heat—here's a NSFW pic of her. And while most seemed amused by her exercising her right to do so, Bowery Boogie reports that the woman was stopped and issued a fine by cops...which is illegal. more ›

A Boerum Hill Jeep owner thought he could pull a fast one on the city's traffic agents by writing a note on his car saying it was infested with bedbugs. Ok, so he says he got a few bites and "wanted to see if we had them in the house by not using the car at all for two weeks." Two weeks? Those things can live up to a year between feedings! The car was still ticketed—gotta feed the alternate sides monster. more ›

A brilliant Staten Islander trying to dodge a traffic ticket was done in by his own hubris on Wednesday morning. Jack Milici was being issued a summons by Traffic Agent Alisa Pearce on Wednesday morning when he hopped in the car and peeled off before Pearce could place the ticket on his car. However, not content with just driving off, he tracked her down later and began yelling and cursing. He also threw snowballs at her. more ›

The unidentified NYPD police officer that slapped Rabbi Sholom Emert with a jaywalking ticket on Shabbos has now been transferred to a less Jewish Orthodox community, reports the Flatbush Scoop. The ticket was handed over in the Midwood section of Brooklyn on November 26th, and Emert said the officer was rude when he busted him. Specifically, he made him write his own name down—thus forcing him to violate Jewish law on the Sabbath, lest he end up in the station. more ›

Rabbi Sholom Emert says he doesn't have a problem with getting a ticket for jaywalking, but he does have a problem with the officer who ticketed him on the Sabbath. According to WCBS, members of Brooklyn’s orthodox Jewish community are all riled up because the officer was insensitive and made Emert write his name down—which isn't allowed on the Sabbath. The rabbi told them, “This officer did not understand my religious life. I told him I’m a Sabbath observer. I don’t have ID on me. I live down the block. You can come to my house and I’ll give you my ID. So he said if you have no ID we have to take you to the precinct." Emert then chose to write his name down over the less convenient alternative. more ›

Criminals: did you jump a turnstile? Spray-paint a subway car? Haven't paid your ticket in 25 years? Well during the whole month of October, the Transit Adjudication Board is offering you a deal; if you pay the original fine on your ticket and they'll waive all those nasty late fees! The MTA is hoping the deal will encourage the scofflaws to fork over some much-needed cash, but the TAB says there's a lot in it for the ticket holders as well. more ›

That's the question Cliff Schuster asked himself before he parked at a Q75 stop in Queens. The Q75 stop was one of 570 now out of service because of MTA service cuts, and was marked with a sign saying it was "no longer a bus stop." But that didn't stop a ticket agent from fining him $115 for parking there. more ›

A former cop is speaking out against the traffic agent who issued a summons to a City Councilman after the Councilman caught him going through stop signs and red lights, sirens blazing, to go to...Dunkin' Donuts. Tim Dillon spoke to WCBS 2 about his run-in with Traffic Agent Daniel Chu while Dillon was a pallbearer at a funeral, "The family was getting ready to transfer the body from the funeral home to the churchThe traffic agent felt that they were all double-parked. There was a confrontation - he started yelling and screaming at the family members." more ›

[UPDATE BELOW] City Councilman Dan Halloran (R-Queens) is demanding a review of every ticket Officer Daniel Chu has ever written after allegedly catching him speeding through a red light and talking on his cell phone with his siren lights on in Whitestone on Monday. Halloran became suspicious, telling the Daily News, "I know the traffic agents have no emergency they have to run to." He followed Chu weaving through traffic, and eventually found him parked illegally in front of a Dunkin' Donuts. Chu came out and caught Halloran taking photos of his car, and immediately issued Halloran a $165 ticket for blocking a crosswalk. more ›

A Brooklyn building owner was recently fined $25 for putting recyclables in a black trash bag designated for non-recyclables. Problem is: there were no recyclables in that trash bag. Tony Scott told Fox 5 News that his surveillance camera caught the Department of Sanitation worker walking on the sidewalk and simply kicking trash bags before writing up tickets. His ticket read: "did observe metal cans, unsoiled paper, and cereal boxes out for collection in 1 black plastic bag non-designated for any recyclables." But he the worker never even opened the bag, which could mean the agency is walking around giving out undeserved tickets. more ›

An eight-months pregnant woman was recently given a $75 summons for traveling between subway cars. And why, given her condition, was she traveling between subway cars? Because she couldn't find a seat on the 1 train! Nora Hsu told the NY Post, "I told the cop, 'Cut me some slack. I'm 32 weeks pregnant, and I'm just trying to get home.' I was out of breath." But the officer allegedly told her, "It doesn't matter... You know what you did was illegal ... You'll have to come with me." Hear that everyone: Pregnant ladies are just like regular people. more ›

Former Continental Airlines ticket agent Victoria Scardigno is due in court today on a charge of wire fraud for allegedly making over $1 million by selling travelers fake free-travel vouchers. The Newark Liberty International Airport agent allegedly printed fake vouchers that are normally given to customers whose flights were cancelled. Scardingo would sell the fake vouchers to customers for as much as $600 each, and used the profits to pay off her credit card debt and go on a $15,000 shopping spree at Louis Vuitton. The Daily News reports that she covered her tracks by using some of her profits to buy certain victims real tickets. more ›

Here's the latest report of someone being ticketed for taking up more than one seat: In his "About New York" column, Jim Dwyer writes about a 24-year-old who landed a $50 ticket for his 1:30 a.m. subway seat greediness on a nearly empty 2 train from Manhattan to Crown Heights. Ryan David LaMont said at the Atlantic Avenue stop, "An N.Y.P.D. officer stepped into the car, pointed at me and another guy who was sitting on the other end of the train. He told us, 'Get off the train.'" more ›

Adding to yesterday's report that fare beaters in the city's subway system have been vastly undercounted, the News wrote today that cops have gone soft on the crime. Only about 87,000 turnstile hoppers and emergency gate crashers were ticketed or arrested in 2009, the lowest number in five years. The police explain the drop, saying they're cracking down on big-time perpetrators, in lieu of handing out lots of little fines. "The department focused on the arrest of more serious offenders," said Sgt. Carlos Nieves, not explaining what constitutes a "serious offender." more ›

A Bronx cop claims a superior punched him for refusing to write bogus summonses. "I'm not going to give the bread deliveryman a ticket before going into the deli and telling him," said Officer Anthony Minoia, 46, who is planning on filing suit against the city for the violent incident. "I didn't forget what it was like to be a civilian before I got a badge." more ›

In their latest effort to catch up with bad drivers—especially those with a cell phone in their lap or on their ear—Westchester cops have introduced a new look to the force’s automotive fleet. The “ghost car”, as it’s commonly called, is a cruiser, but its white on white design makes it harder to spot. “I thought you were a taxi,” or “I didn’t recognize it was a cop car,” say the targets, caught unaware. So far there are no statistics on how well the sneak-up approach works, but anecdotal evidence suggests that as drivers get better at hiding their mobile infractions, the ghost outsmarts them. “Can you see it?” an officer joked with a Times reporter, standing in front of the car in the precinct's parking lot. more ›

No matter how deserted your subway train may be, you can't still afford to get comfortable by putting your feet up: It seems that transit police have not eased up on their late night ticket blitz against any rider occupying more than one seat. Last year saw a 17% spike in tickets for that crime, and it looks like the trend continues in 2010. One of the more recent violators is a 17-year-old Stuyvesant HS student who got a $50 ticket two weeks ago on his way home from a birthday party. It was 2 a.m., and there were four people other in the subway car when he dared rest his feet on the edge of an empty seat. more ›

Since February 2009 Live Nation and Ticketmaster have been trying to get their bear paws on each other and today they finally got the OK. I know what you're thinking—now that the two monster entities have joined forces, ticket prices and surcharges will go from just exorbitant to totally obscene. Well actually, by suggesting a merger the two companies brought the heat: artists, anti-trust agencies and competitors protested, and the Dept of Justice investigated. Now they'll be allowed to go through with the deal, but with all the requirements being imposed, AP reported they may actually bring ticket prices down. more ›

If you get caught red-handed with your feet up on the subway seats, you have less than a one-in-five chance at winning your case in a hearing. more ›

The NYPD has been cracking down on bike riders who pedal on sidewalks in Chelsea and Gramercy. They issued 43 summonses in those neighborhoods during the last month, and about 90 percent of those ticketed were restaurant deliverymen, a police source tells the Post. The fine for riding on a sidewalk is $100. more ›

Last year, small business Susan Hager was fined after taping an envelope filled with 15 of her business cards to a lamppost on Court Street. Them's the breaks... but the problem here is that she was charged a fine for each card; so instead of facing a $75 fine for the envelope and its contents, she faced closer to a $3,000 fine. The Brooklyn Paper now reports that after her hearing, her fine was knocked down to just $75. This could be seen as a small coup for small business owners facing Bloomberg's quality of life ticketing spree. A pet-groomer, also in Brooklyn, is currently fighting over $8,000 in fines for posters he put up to advertise his shop... which he may now have to close. more ›

Some 2 million pets and other animals travel by commercial airline each year, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. And considering how much airlines charge for the service, it all amounts to big business for the industry. But how much should it cost to take your pet with you on a flight? One area woman is up in arms after realizing that her cat's ticket to fly from New York to Virginia actually cost more than her own ticket! more ›

Some of the Santas in the costumed Santacon bar crawl yesterday were naughty, according to police sources. An NYPD spokeswoman tells Gothamist that officers cracked down on holiday-clad revelers who were boozing in public in Washington Square Park. "There were 33 criminal court summonses issued for open containers," she said. "All of these were in the confines of the 6th Precinct." more ›

Mayor Bloomberg says that if the City Council's planned five-minute grace period for parking violations goes into effect, there will be "chaos" on the streets. Based on this Daily News article, that already seems to be the case — and the law isn't even on the books yet. more ›