PEP, September 2015: Local 983 demands city protect members from assaults

Public Employee Press

Local 983 demands city protect members from assaults

Ten Local 983 members were violently attacked in five separate incidents in July:

An NYPD Tow Truck Operator in Queens was beaten by three thugs as he towed an illegally parked motorcycle.
A Tow Operator in Harlem had the windows of his Police truck shot out.
A Tow Operator was punched in the head by two burly men in the Bronx after he ticketed their illegally parked car.
A 64-year-old City Seasonal Aide patrolling an isolated bird sanctuary in Far Rockaway was held under water and nearly drowned by an irate swimmer.
Five Parks Patrol Officers were pepper-sprayed by Police and one suffered bruised ribs while arresting a ticket scalper in Staten Island.

"No one goes to work and expects to be attacked for doing their job," said Local 983 President Joe Puleo. He and local leaders met with NYPD officials, including the chief of transportation, to raise concerns about the safety of Local 983 members.

Tow Operators in the New York Police Dept. keep pedestrians safe and traffic flowing throughout the city. Parks Dept. PEP Officers and CSAs protect the public at beaches, parks, and nature reserves.

"Currently state law says a physical attack on a traffic agent is a second degree assault, not a felony," Puleo said. Felony charges carry stiffer penalties and prison sentences.

Local 983 Tow Operator Anthony Easton spied a motorcycle illegally parked on a sidewalk. When the owners failed to produce the vehicle's registration and insurance, Eastern went to hook the bike to tow it away.

That's when the owner and two others bum-rushed and pummeled Easton, knocking him to the ground. They beat him down, knocked his eyeglasses off and pinned him. Easton said, "People stood by recording the incident on their cell phones, but no one helped me."

"If a stick-wielding Good Samaritan had not come to my aid, I don't know what would have happened," said the 16-year veteran. He regained his footing and detained his attackers until Police arrived. Though injured, Easton towed the motorcycle before going to the hospital.

"I heard a crash and saw the passenger window shattered," said Tow Operator Derek Vaughn. He was driving his NYPD tow truck in Harlem when the window was blown out, possibly by a blast from a BB gun or small caliber handgun. He notified NYPD Command and was told to move to safety.

"It's the nature of the job, we are towing people's prize possession, their vehicle," said Vaughn, a city Tow Operator for 29 years. "People don't like the job we do. Most times we can diffuse a heated situation. But where people used to make threats, now they come at you wrong."

The violence members have met this summer puts Local 983 members at great risk, said Rep Clarice Wilson. "This is a real problem. Our members risk life and limb to do their jobs, sometimes with little recognition or respect."