Inwood Residents Fuming After NYPD Has Cars Towed So Cops Can Park For Department's Flag Football Game
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Some Manhattan residents say they're furious after the NYPD towed dozens of cars to clear the way for the vehicles of officers who were playing in a flag football game on Sunday.
While the officers played in what's called "The Commissioner's Flag Football League" championship game in Inwood, residents struggled to find their cars. In their place were police car after police car, parked all the way up the block, CBS2's Marc Liverman reported Tuesday.
"People are outraged. It's not fair. Parking is hard enough," resident Lorraine Gavagan said.
Social media posts show an NYPD tow truck parked along West 218th Street on Sunday, there to clear the way in front of Baker Field so that police officers could park right next to their game.
"They had massive police trucks towing. I'd never seen a tow truck this big," Inwood resident Josh Kap said.
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"It's not fair when you're having a game to just come in," Gavagan added. "They have to find parking. Use mass transit. Don't bring your car, especially to the tip of Manhattan."
"It's frustrating that for their own personal event they towed our neighbors. It doesn't seem right," another resident said.
Some residents said there was hardly even any warning ahead of the game to let them know cars would be moved.
"They usually put posters or barricades, but to my understanding I didn't see anything," Gavagan said.
So CBS2's Liverman took the residents' plight to NYPD Commissioner James O'Neill. He said drivers had plenty of notice.
"There were signs put out five days in advance that said 'No Parking On Sunday.' So this is something that takes place very often in that neighborhood," O'Neill said.
Some residents even accused the officers of placard abuse.
"It's not placard abuse. It was clearly marked 'No Parking On Sunday.' It's a special event. This is where Columbia football plays. There are events like this all throughout the city," O'Neill said.
While cars were moved, they were not brought to the pound or given fines on the spot. However, if they remained in the locations they were moved to a bit too long, they may have been ticketed, Liverman reported.
The comments and the commissioner's response came just a few weeks after Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a crackdown on placard abuse, which some residents argue Sunday was a perfect example of.