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New York (WCBS) — The NYPD is speaking out after one of their traffic agents was harassed while trying to tow an illegally parked car in Brooklyn.
The confrontation in Borough Park was caught on camera and has started making the rounds on social media. It appears to show a handful of men free someone’s van from an NYPD tow truck as it was about to be taken away.
The group then starts taunting the black traffic officer.
“He works in the wrong precinct,” one man says. “Work in Harlem, they’ll kill him over there.”
They then started calling him names.
“What a loser,” one person says. “You’re gonna lose your job. You’re gonna lose your job like an (expletive).”
It happened on Thursday where 44th Street meets 15th Avenue. While it wasn’t immediately clear when exactly it happened, there are signs in the area clearly posted for no parking on Thursdays from 9:30 a.m. – 11 a.m.
The NYPD says traffic enforcement agents responded to the area at the request of people in the community and local representatives, who had concerns about illegal parking. The department added it will not tolerate abuse of traffic agents.
“This is disgusting behavior against an agent who was doing his job to keep New Yorkers safe while exhibiting restraint and professionalism,” a spokesperson told CBS2.
In the middle of the flurry of insults, the agent got into his truck and drove away.
It’s not clear whether police have identified the man who took off before getting towed.
