NYPD pull over car of high level NY official (he's black)

[Liberal_in_LA]

Two New York City police officers ran into some unexpected trouble when they made a traffic stop that netted one of the city's more powerful officials, schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott.

Walcott was a few blocks from his Queens home just before midnight Thursday when his city-owned vehicle was pulled over by plain-clothed officers in an anti-crime unit. Walcott was a passenger.

The chancellor's spokeswoman told the New York Post the driver hadn't done anything wrong, but the officers claimed they stopped the vehicle for making a turn without signaling.

After Walcott identified himself, the officers ran a license check and let the vehicle go without writing a ticket.

The Post says Walcott later complained to the police commissioner that the officers had refused to identify themselves.



Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2011/04/30/national/a132326D69.DTL#ixzz1L2aWgvyy

[Drale]

1. Wow seems like Walcott is waisting time

He got pulled over, didn't get a ticket. Nothing happened, first why is this even news and second why is he waisting time complaining about it?

[Sanity Claws]

4. ?? Did you mean that Walcott is wasting time?

Your sentence is spelling and syntax challenged.

He has the right to complain of officers refusing to identify themselves. This got coverage because he is a notable individual.

[Drale]

15. Yes I did I changed what I was going to say mid sentence lol

[nonperson]

5. When you ask an officer for his ID he' s required to give it to you

Especially when stopping you for no reason in your own neighborhood because you already know like everyone else that New York City has a very biased stop and frisk policy:
Stop and Frisk Practices
http://www.nyclu.org/issues/racial-justice/stop-and-frisk-practices
New York City: “Stop-and-frisks” hit record levels in 2010
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/mar2011/nypd-m03.shtml
New York Minorities More Likely to Be Frisked
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/13/nyregion/13frisk.html

[Liberal_in_LA]

6. +5

[CreekDog]

14. He's saying the officers did something wrong and for very good reason:

The Post says Walcott later complained to the police commissioner that the officers had refused to identify themselves.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/city-owned-vehicle-carrying-new-nyc-schools-chief-pulled-over-by-nypd-anti-crime-unit/2011/04/30/AFy880MF_story.html

[marmar]

45. Because if you let it go, it will keep happening again and again.....

..... the only way to stop profiling is to confront it.

[virgogal]

2. Why did you point out his race? He's just a big shot who got

annoyed,that's all.

[Liberal_in_LA]

3. cuz NYPD, and other city cops, like to target blacks

It's a fact

[KittyWampus]

8. Was the driver black? Why does the school chancellor have a driver?

[alcibiades_mystery]

38. It said he was the passenger, not that he "had a driver"

I'm sometimes the passenger in a car. It's not because I "have a driver", usually.

[virgogal]

9. So if a traffic violation took place it should be ignored ? Wow!

[CreekDog]

30. how many times have you been stopped for not signaling when you say you did?

:shrug:

[virgogal]

48. Once,late at night in a very affluent town,and I'm a white woman.

I was even asked where I was going which annoyed the hell out of me but I kept my mouth shut.

It happens.

[CreekDog]

51. what does kept your mouth shut mean?

not supposed to complain?

[virgogal]

52. It means whatever you want it to mean. Give it a rest.

[CreekDog]

55. you said you kept your mouth shut --where/when?

before, during, after?

should others?

[Drale]

54. So its a fact now?

I was under the impression that urban areas were more likely to host populations of African Americans so it just seems like they get pulled over more. I will admit that their are some cops who do target minority's but we need to get out of the habit of judging all Police Officers because of the actions of some of their ranks.

[mzteris]

7. pulled over for DWB

driving while black.

The only reason he was let go was because he wasn't a "nobody black".

[Liberal_in_LA]

10. yep

[KittyWampus]

13. Does the story say the driver was black? Maybe I missed that.

[virgogal]

12. You couldn't know that from such a brief article,which wasn't newsworthy

in the first place.

[CreekDog]

17. then what was he stopped for?

have you heard of driving while black or do you need DNA proof to believe it ever occurs?

[KittyWampus]

19. He wasn't driving. Did you even read the article? And we don't know the race of the driver.

[CreekDog]

22. you mean it only matters if everyone in the car is black?

:shrug:

[KittyWampus]

26. I'm not the one claiming automatically its DWB. And I also wonder why a school chancellor

needs a car and driver and what official city business he was attending to around midnight that evening.

[CreekDog]

27. fair enough on the DWB...but if you don't get an answer to your questions?

does that make the stop legitimate to you?

maybe if you were with the cops, you could've pulled him over and interrogated him about the use of the city vehicle.

would that make you feel better?

[KittyWampus]

31. I have no idea if the stop was legitimate and I'm pretty sure the cops involved broke rules

no identifying themselves.

As for "interrogating" the chancellor- that should have been the reporter's job- the one who wrote this sorry excuse for journalism.

[CreekDog]

34. He was at a meeting in Brooklyn that night

http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/walcott-first-educational-policy-panel-meeting-20110428

Policy Panel Meeting

Updated: Thursday, 28 Apr 2011, 10:17 PM EDT
Published : Thursday, 28 Apr 2011, 8:52 PM EDT

MYFOXNY.COM - Walcott attended the Panel for Educational Policy meeting in Brooklyn to face an auditorium full of parents. He knows these meetings well. They can be quite contentious. When Cathie Black presided over them, she was sometimes booed.

As deputy mayor, Walcott stayed in the background and calmed disputes behind the scenes.

At this meeting, he talked about better communication and tried to soften what these panel meetings had become.

The big issues at the meeting were school closures and charter school co-locations.

Earlier, Yankees center fielder Curtis Granderson donated 300 bats to the Public School League on Thursday. Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott was there to thank him.

[KittyWampus]

42. Wow, so you at least admit the reporting is incomplete.

[CreekDog]

47. Your bias is showing (you don't have enough evidence to prove the black schools chief innocent)

It's your own fault --you were remarkably cooperative in demonstrating to everyone here the following:

1) there was evidence that the stop was improper and possibly racially based (you argue against again and again --not enough evidence to prove police guilty)

2) there was NO evidence that he was doing anything improper in a city vehicle --not even an allegation (but you argue that there's not enough evidence to prove the Schools Chief innocent)



See the police you need evidence to prove guilty.

But the black schools chief, you need evidence to prove innocent

[CreekDog]

40. you're more suspicious that he's misusing a city vehicle than you are of racial profiling

funny though, there's no evidence of the former and seems to be some of the latter.

yet you dispute racial profiling until it's proven to you, but you practically accuse him of something that's not only is unproven but for which there is no evidence.

wow. your bias is showing. :D

[KittyWampus]

41. No one has proven "racial profiling". Neither have you proved that the turn signal was used.

who knows maybe the cops were bored since it was late at night and pulled the car over. We STILL don't know the race of the driver.

And the Chancellor whom you've decided to champion is a shill for school vouchers, btw.

[CreekDog]

49. vouchers notwithstanding, you're showing bias

i hate vouchers and the kind of accusations you're making.

[formernaderite]

56. this happened before midnight

You seriously think people can see the race of whoever is driving at night? Give me a break. Day time...something else. I wouldn't pass judgement.

[tblue37]

53. It sounds more like his driver got stopped for

the well-known crime of DWB. The cops saw a black passenger (and, I am guessing, a black driver) in a nice neighborhood and therefore faked a reason to pull the car over.

[KittyWampus]

11. What official business was the school chancellor doing around MIDNIGHT Thursday?

If he wasn't doing official school business, why was he in that car?

If it's an official car, why wasn't the chancellor driving it himself.

Do school chancellors really need cars and drivers? At midnight?

[CreekDog]

16. Wow, even the police say he didn't do anything wrong --but now you're accusing him of worse

criminal misuse of city property. after all, you think whatever he did justified police stopping him.

[KittyWampus]

18. I just read the article and asked the obvious questions.

[CreekDog]

20. Did you read it? IT said Police said Walcott did NOTHING wrong

Also, the cops are now under investigation because apparently they didn't identify themselves (they were plainclothes):

but go ahead, keep casting aspersions on the guy that even the police say "didn't do anything wrong".

===========

"Two cops assigned to an elite Queens anti-crime unit are facing an Internal Affairs probe for allegedly not properly identifying themselves after pulling over Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott in his city-issued vehicle, officials said yesterday.

Walcott, who is credited with creating the NYPD's "Courtesy, Professionalism, Respect" slogan in the early '90s, complained directly to Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, sparking the investigation, officials said.

Shortly before midnight Thursday, the two cops, a police officer and a sergeant, pulled over Walcott, who was not driving, a few blocks from his Cambria Heights home, for what sources described as having tinted windows and making a left turn without signaling.

"When Chancellor Walcott asked the officers to please tell him why they had been pulled over, the officer responded that they had failed to use a turn signal. Chancellor Walcott told the officers that this was incorrect as he heard the turn signal," confirmed his spokeswoman, Natalie Ravitz.

He also identified himself as the schools chancellor and former deputy mayor, Ravitz said.

"After the officer ran the license and plates, the officer returned the driver's license and said they were free to go. At this time Chancellor Walcott asked the officer for her badge number," Ravitz added. "The officers were in plainclothes and did not identify themselves."

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/queens/cops_probed_in_traffic_stop_of_walcott_wU5ae0A8xMQe1XnA7SFg8N#ixzz1L2ibwjJt

[KittyWampus]

33. Good, the cops should be investigate for not disclosing their identity. LOL!

[Liberal_in_LA]

21. god forbid, a black man should be riding around a fancy car at night with a driver

must have been up to no good

[KittyWampus]

24. Weird, if it was a white school chancellor riding around WELL AFTER SCHOOL HOURS

in an official city car, with a driver- you WOULDN'T wonder wtf was up with that?

You think a school chancellor needs an official city car, a driver and that the car should be used potentially for personal business?

With your tax dollars?

In a city that is cutting teachers and making larger classes to save money in the budget?

Really?

You wouldn't think to at least wonder?

And it's really telling about your attitude that YOU add "up to no good".

My only questions stem from using the official city car possibly for personal reasons> no implications he "was up to no good".

[alcibiades_mystery]

39. The obvious question is whether city-owned vehicles are restricted to "official business"

You don't know that they are.

[bluestate10]

23. Could have been coming home from official business.

Examples would be meetings of the board or committees. Public events where his presence is required.

[KittyWampus]

25. With a driver? You really think a school chancellor needs a driver? And maybe

he was out around midnight on official business or maybe he wasn't.

Again, I asked the obvious questions.

[rfranklin]

28. It is not up to you to determine whether or not he needs a driver...

or when he needs to use that car, is it?

[CreekDog]

29. i guess you don't want to talk about the police --that's pretty clear

or race.

just something that has not been brought up by police, city officials, or anyone involved.

those things are what you want to focus on and you don't want to talk about anything that has been reported.

:shrug:

[KittyWampus]

32. Oh, I'm happy to discuss what was reported and I'm also commenting on what was NOT reported.

[CreekDog]

37. I get you now: Guilty until proven innocent.

that's kind of the underlying complaint he was making about this incident.

[KittyWampus]

46. Actually, it's quite possible the cops pulled them over because they were bored

late at night. I don't know but unlike yourself and the OP, I don't make assumptions.

[CreekDog]

50. except about the Chief

maybe because you don't like his policies.

but i have a feeling *they* didn't pull him over because he proposed vouchers.

[CreekDog]

58. you DO make assumptions --you assumed he's doing something wrong with that city vehicle

and despite casting aspersions on the Chancellor at every opportunity --when i actually gave you the info about where he'd been that night (official business that evening) you never acknowledged it.

[KittyWampus]

59. I can't believe you're continuing this crap. No, I asked questions. Get it?

[nonperson]

35. Why don't you ask him yourself?

If you're so concerned:

Contact the Chancellor

What's on your mind? Compose a message to the Chancellor.

Tweed Courthouse
52 Chambers Street
New York, NY 10007


While you're at it why don't you get the police side of the story too:

http://www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/html/home/contact_information.shtml

BTW, see my post (#5) on NYPD's horrible record on racial profiling above if you're so concerned with the full story.

[KittyWampus]

44. I'd be more inclined to contact him and tell him his love of school vouchers sucks.

[MasonJar]

36. My son once got arrested and put in jail for asking the officers for

ID when a car he was a passenger in was stopped.

[Obamanaut]

43. You neglected to tell us the race of the police officers. Why is that? nt

[ecstatic]

57. This is what they do--they harass and scare people without identifying themselves

and they get off even when someone gets killed because they are "officers" which makes them right. :mad: