Bronx police-union delegates -- furious over the handling of the NYPD ticket-fixing scandal -- yesterday called for their leader’s head and then stormed out of a meeting when he refused to step down, sources told The Post.
In a pre-planned protest, about 50 Bronx delegates from the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association stood and demanded the ouster of PBA President Pat Lynch at the union’s general meeting at a Queens catering hall, sources said.
The group made its bid just after the meeting started and before the agenda portion where Lynch was slated to lay out the PBA’s strategy for dealing with the ticket-fixing charges against its members.
One delegate was chosen to read a statement as the rest stood behind him at the microphone.
“Basically, the message was, ‘If you’re not gonna fight for us, then step down and let someone who will take over,’ ” a source said.
“They feel like [Lynch] hasn’t supported them over the ticket-fixing investigation like they think he should have,” said another source. “They thought he wasn’t vocal enough on their behalf.”
Lynch has headed the PBA since 1999 and won an uncontested election again this year.
“He said he wasn’t going to resign, that he’d fight it out,’’ a source said.
After the confrontation, the delegate group left the room en masse, ignoring Lynch’s request that they stay.
“As they turned around to go, he said, ‘Don’t leave, delegates,’ ” a source said.
PBA board members -- including the three Bronx trustees indicted in the ticket-fixing probe -- remained at the meeting.
After the delegates left, Lynch and two criminal lawyers for the PBA detailed their plan on how it will fight the charges against the union’s indicted cops, sources said.
“We understand and share the frustration of our wrongfully accused officers and will continue to put the full resources of the union to work to vindicate them,” Lynch said in a statement after the meeting.
The PBA boss has publicly blasted the sweeping ticket investigation that ended with the arrest of 16 cops on Oct. 28.
He call fixing tickets “a courtesy, not a crime” and said it has been accepted at all levels of the NYPD “for decades.”
“Taking care of your family, taking care of your friends, taking care of those that support New York City police officers is not a crime,” Lynch said.
My Dad used to say that rules are meant to be broken! But, he would continue, when you get caught, take the punishment like a man! Nobody can possibly think that ripping up tickets and/or lying about it is legal. Give me a break! At least these cops should feel a little contrite for compromising their sworn duty to uphold the law fairly and equally. This is not supposed to be a police state. This conduct can NOT be tolerated.
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