by Ned Berke
A Cardozo School of Law student
is suing the city and two police officers from the 61st Precinct, claiming they
wrongfully arrested him after he chewed them out for parking in a bus stop to
grab some food.
Tzvi Richt, 22, was given two
disorderly conduct summonses after he got fed up and mouthed off to two
officers who he claims chased off a man for parking in a bus stop – and then
took the spot for themselves.
The incident happened in
December, when Richt was on his way home from final exams. He spotted two
officers in their patrol car at Kings Highway and East 16th Street. The boys in
blue were honking at a man using a nearby ATM to move his car from a bus zone.
When that man hurriedly pulled away to avoid a ticket, the cops pulled into the
bus stop, left their vehicle, and hit a nearby food truck for some chow, the
suit alleges.
The New York Post details what
happened next:
Richt approached NYPD officers
Graham Braithwaite and Jason Pinero and quizzed them about the apparent double
standard.
“Plaintiff asked the officers
whether they thought what they had done was right,” the suit states. “Kicking a
civilian’s car out of a bus stop so that they could park there just to get
food.”
Richt claims that he asked the
question in a respectful manner and was not “yelling or shouting,” according to
court papers.
Braithwaite tried to shoo Richt
away – but he wasn’t taking no for an answer.
“Plaintiff responded by asking
whether he wasn’t allowed to ask a question of a police officer,” the suit
states.
Braithwaite then demanded
Richt’s identification – but the student asked if they had the right to make
the request.
That’s when Braithwaite put him
in cuffs and threw him in the back of the cruiser, the suit claims. Pinero
apparently attempted to urge his partner to forget about it and move on, but to
no avail.
Richt spent an hour and a half
behind bars before getting the disorderly conduct citations.
