She still complained about the speeding ticket despite being given a break on the light as a result of her PBA card. In one instance, he issued a ticket for speeding to a woman who’d blown through a red light. Still, Bianchi continued, ultimately writing up traffic stops in which he in effect ignored or questioned courtesy cards carried by fellow cops’ family members and friends. “We’re not supposed to be showing favoritism when we do car stops, and we shouldn’t be giving them out because the guy mows my lawn.”īianchi told his precinct commander that he did not agree with the courtesy card policy and claims he was told: “Is it better to be right or better to be on patrol?” The lawsuit cites several instances where his NYPD colleagues complained about his ticket-writing, including on Facebook. You’re not allowed to write any of them ,” he told the Associated Press. In some instances, the complaint said, Bianchi was reprimanded for writing a ticket to a relative or parent of an officer in others, his commanding officer reviewed body-camera footage to see if he was giving motorists with cards a “hard time”. According to Bianchi, who is Cuban-American, courtesy cards are used to maintain a system of impunity – a “get-of-jail-free card” for families and friends of NYPD officers to avoid traffic tickets, a growing source of revenue for the city.īianchi claims his superiors retaliated against him for his stance against the “corrupt” cards after he was warned by an official with the Police Benevolent Association, New York City’s largest police union, that he would not be protected by his union if he wrote tickets for people with cards. What happened next is the subject of a lawsuit against the city and a police captain.
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