The tolls on the George Washington Bridge are steep, especially if you're driving a truck. Vehicles with six axles, including tractor trailers, get charged $78 for the pleasure of gliding over the GW to paradise. But there's an easy way around this—all you need is a piece of duct tape, and you can sail through the E-ZPass toll without paying a dime. At least, that's the way it's supposed to go down—until some meddling Port Authority cop decides to be a big hero.
A spokesman for the Port Authority says a California truck driver named Ashwin Kumar, 28, was recently caught trying to drive through the E-ZPass lane without an EZ-Pass transponder. Officer George Kwiecinski was on duty at 5:30 a.m. Sunday when he noticed a truck pulled over on a ramp near the toll plaza. Spokesman Al Della Fave tells NJ.com, “From the Police Parking lot, you can see the approach ramp of the upper level, so he thinks, ‘I’m going to go down and help this guy out.' But then he sees the driver, who’s crouched down at his license place with duct tape."
Officer Kwiecinski tailed Kumar, who was driving a shipment of fruits and vegetables, and pulled him over just on the other side of the toll plaza. Kumar was required to pay the $78 toll and sent on his way, but he'll have to answer to charges of theft of services and tampering with public documents.
