Results tagged “trafficagent”

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.

Traffic enforcement agents are used to getting sneering looks and jeered at just for doing their jobs, writing tickets to illegally parked vehicles. But one man in The Bronx yesterday took his protest of an offense to an offensive level when he got into his violating vehicle (double parked) and just rode right over the officer who was writing him up. The man's 2002 black Ford Taurus was double parked on Jerome Avenue in Bedford Park when he hustled into it and drove into NYPD Traffic Officer Sabrina Torrez, running over her legs. The 26-year-old officer and mother of a toddler is in guarded condition at St. Barnabas Hospital after being treated for broken legs and head trauma. Police are looking for help identifying the suspect caught on a surveillance video that can be seen here. Update: Police arrested Andrew Grullon, 26, for felony assault and leaving the scene of an accident.

Yesterday, mourners attended the funeral of the pregnant traffic agent fatally struck in the Bronx and the baby son she never knew. Donnette Sanz and Sean Michael Justin Sanz were buried together in the same casket; she had died on August while her son was born but only lived a week until last Friday. Wdower Rafael Sanz "broke down" when he was given the flag from the coffin.

Governor Paterson signed legislation making any assault on traffic enforcement agents a possible felony. The Sun reports that previously, an assault on traffic agent was a misdemeanor (up to one year in jail and $1,000 in fines), but now the felony charge could bring 7-8 years in jail. One traffic agent told NY1, "I came out my vehicle to issue a summons, I started and the motorist came out his car and punched me on my head." Police Commissioner Ray Kelly added, "The message here is clear: If you touch a traffic enforcement agent, you go to jail."