Brian Howald Profile picture
• 7th-gen. new yorker • member @bkcb02 • @LASchools, @NYCSchools, & stanford cs & urban studies • maker of @HowsMyDrivingNY • eng. mngr. @petal • never a driver

Dec 12, 2017, 14 tweets

I was biking to a community mtg. tonight when I saw multiple vehicles driving in the 3rd Ave. bike lane.

A man stuck his head out the window waving a non-NYPD placard, telling me to pull over, claiming to be a police officer.

When challenged, he hid the placard & his face.

1/

I noticed he had a driver wearing a suit.

2/

And the car had special plates.

3/

In addition to driving in S/B 3rd Ave. bike lane, driver:

• Drove S/B in N/B lanes of 3rd Ave. b/w 15th St. & Hamilton Ave.
• Ran light at Hamilton while I was taking pictures
• Ran light at 3rd Ave. & 19th St. while I was taking pictures
• impersonated a police officer

4/

When I asked passenger who he was, he responded, “wouldn’t you like to know?”

He tried to evade further attempts to take his picture by clutching to his sun visor for dear life.

5/

So began a cycle of:

• me catching up to the car at a red light
• passenger maneuvering to hide face
• driver coasting through crosswalk to deny me a clear photo
• gunning the engine to blow the light at speed as soon as there was a gap in traffic.

6/

He finall thought he lost me on 4th Ave., but I caught up a few minutes later, and got this photo before he could take off for points south.

7/

Now, I can’t be sure, but heading south from Sunset Park, special plates, and a driver strongly indicates an elected official or department honcho.

8/

, is this you?

9/9

Got to Bond/Schermerhorn and saw this:

@NYCTSubway passengers waiting for G since 9:30 PM. They were told at 9:45 that a G train was on its way, then told at 10:00 to wait for the @NYCTBus G Shuttle.

As of 10:30 PM – 1 hour later – no train or bus.

#CuomosMTA

Just wanted to highlight this:



Often, the people who prevent our city from taking actions to stop dangerous drivers are also the dangerous drivers themselves, or in this case, driven by one.

And several responders wanted me to know that Sen. Golden hit and killed a woman a little over a decade ago:

nydailynews.com/archives/news/…

He claimed it was an "accident," but if I were lying injured on 3rd Avenue, would I be just another of his "accidents"?

#crashnotaccident

Whoops, this was not supposed to a be a reply. Sorry for the twitter sloppiness, #bikenyc.

And this:



This car has racked up 33 violations in less than four years. In what world is that all right, @SenMartyGolden, @nysdmv, @NYCMayor, @NYPDnews?

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