Police are investigating a Manhattan bicyclist's allegations that an off-duty NYPD officer pointed a gun at him during a traffic dispute.
Ryan Stepka, 36, and his lawyer said investigators from the NYPD's Internal Affairs Bureau quizzed him Sunday as they probed the Saturday night incident.
"The matter is being investigated," NYPD deputy commissioner Paul Browne said in an email.
He would not provide details of the incident or say whether the alleged gunman was in fact an off-duty cop.
Stepka, a salesman from the Lower East Side, said he was riding on Bleecker St. in Greenwich Village about 11:15 Saturday night when the cop's black Volkswagen GTI came close to side-swiping him.
Stepka said he tapped on the heavily tinted driver's side window to alert the driver to his presence. When the driver continued to squeeze him off in traffic at a light, Stepka said he dismounted and approached the car.
"As he rolled his window down, he points a gun at my face," Stepka said. "No words were exchanged," he added. "I was just too stunned."
Stepka said the Volkswagen zoomed away up Sixth Ave. He said he chased the car on his bike as he called 911.
The 911 operator told him to go back to the scene of the incident and wait for cops to arrive.
Stepka said that as he was riding back he saw the car parked near Barrow St. and W. 4th St. Two NYPD marked cars were also there.
"I yelled, 'Stop the guy! He pulled a gun on me!"' Stepka recalled.
"They surround the car with their guns drawn, and he rolls down the window and must have shown them his badge because they all lowered their weapons."
Stepka's lawyer, David Hoffberg, said the cops at the scene mistreated Stepka.
"They started getting physical with him," Hoffberg said. "He got upset, but he certainly didn't break any laws."
Yeah, tapped on his window, riiiiight. Should have shot your dumb ***.
ReplyDelete>>>>"I was shocked, like is this really happening in today’s day and age in New York City?">>>>>
ReplyDeleteIts always happened. When tough guys get off their bikes, puff up their chest, and approach menacingly towards the driver's window.
20 years ago, in PHX, i had a angry, tough guy, cyclist flip me off and throw a rock at my car.
I pulled over. As he approached my window menacingly, I just Maced him at about the 3 foot point. I figured nothing was going to get better if he got another foot closer, so....whammo!
To this day, it was all in slow motion: He tried to recoil, but got tripped up in his bike...and the whole mess fell in a tangled heap. screaming in agony!!
Extremely satisfying, i must say!
What an idiot, knocking on a car window, trying to pick a fight in the middle of the night. He's lucky it was a cop.
ReplyDeleteU r a-shmuck
ReplyDeleteThis guy is an idiot and obviously making the whole gun thing up. Who in their right mind would chase a car, on a bycicle no less, who just supposedly pointed a gun at you. He's looking for a payday from the city.
ReplyDelete