disproportionate responses

NYPD Now Making House Calls to Apologize for Biking Tickets [Updated]

Manhattan cyclists who were ticketed after being caught by a police speed gun in Central Park have been receiving in-person apologies at their doorsteps. The issue is not the park’s 15-mph speed limit, but rather that the citations ordered defendants to appear in traffic court rather than criminal court. Officers from the Community Affairs Bureau who stopped by David Regen’s apartment at 103rd Street and West End Avenue said, “‘We’re here because we’re withdrawing your ticket because we feel you were treated unfairly.’ ” We know the culture wars over biking have gotten heated. But surely the NYPD has more pressing apologies to hand-deliver first. [NYPD]

Update: The sudden act of contriteness may have had something to do with a video Greg Lowdermilk, a disabled Iraq War veteran who works for FEMA, took yesterday at the Central Park speed trap. The stealth recording, posted on Gothamist, shows cops explaining why there’s a 15 mph limit for cyclists even when going downhill, but not police cars, despite the fact that the Central Park Conservancy suggests 25 mph. Phew. For a second there, we thought that cops were apologizing of their own volition. [Gothamist via John Del Signore]

NYPD Now Making House Calls to Apologize for Biking Tickets [Updated]