NewsMine — deceptions — eastern-blackout — Viewing Item

Traffic agent wrote tickets { August 20 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)    http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/3675.htm http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/3675.htm WHILE A CITIZEN DIRECTED TRAFFIC . . .FOOL WROTE TICKETS By WILLIAM J. GORTA and PHILIP MESSING August 20, 2003 -- While some city workers struggled to protect New Yorkers in the midst of the blackout, a city traffic agent wrote summonses even as private citizens directed traffic at a busy intersection yards away. About a half-hour into Thursday's power outage, Dr. Robert Richter and two other New Yorkers took it upon themselves to ease the traffic jam at West 79th Street and Amsterdam Avenue. Then, 15 minutes later, an NYPD traffic-enforcement car rolled up, but instead of directing traffic, the agent tagged a pair of cars on West 79th Street, Richter said. "When I saw the flashing lights and the cars pull up, I said, 'Oh, relief is here,' " Richter told The Post. "Then they got out of the car and started writing tickets. "After they finished writing tickets, they drove away - I couldn't believe this. I was just amazed." At least 10 onlookers implored the agent not to write citations on the cars, a witness said. But the stone-faced summons man said nothing, wrote the tickets and drove off. Richter wound up directing the traffic-enforcement car through the intersection. "Maybe it's not in their job description, but common sense says they would stop and direct traffic and not be writing tickets for guys who were parked overtime at meters," he said. Richter, 70, was on his way home when he came upon the traffic snarl. "I've been through the other two blackouts, and it wasn't pleasant," he said. "I saw the gridlock at the intersection. I said someone's got to do this - why not me?" He teamed up with a woman and a teenager to clear the entanglement. "The three of us combined to keep traffic moving for about 45 minutes until someone spelled me," he said. "I was getting tired of waving my arms." But a picture showing the agent writing a summons - with Richter directing traffic in the background - was worth considerably less than 1,000 words to a Police Department spokesman. The spokesman said the department would not comment unless they saw a copy of the summons. He also declined to check whether any summonses were issued after the blackout began.

15 minute outage college park { August 14 2003 } 50 million affected Air traffic control 30 second power failure { August 17 2003 } Alqaida claims responsibility for blackout { August 18 2003 } Blackout affecting parts metro detroit { August 14 2003 } Bush says not terrorism { August 15 2003 } Canada blames lightning Cia possibility terrorist tempering Consumers to pay 50m to update grid { August 17 2003 } Deregulation makes electric grid complex web Excuse for more deregulation { September 3 2003 } Fire destabalized grid { August 15 2003 } Fire edison plant manhattan { August 14 2003 } Fire florida substation Fire in pennsylvania nuclear plant Fire manhattan generator { August 14 2003 } Firstenergy assigned blackout blame Homeland security passed blackout test { August 19 2003 } Homeland security teams alerted Homeland security teams ready with blackout Huge power blackouts ny detroit { August 14 2003 } Human error cause of blackout { August 27 2003 } Italy has blackout Lodon outage lack of funding London loses power Major power outage Maryland schools open power back { August 29 2003 } Northeast blackout fire coned transformer Ny power outages not terrorism { August 14 2003 } Officials blame ohio Power2 [jpg] Simultaneaous faults caused england power out { August 29 2003 } System crash was predicted { August 15 2003 } Taskforce points the finger over blackout { November 19 2003 } Terror not ruled out Thats why no electricity in baghdad Traffic agent wrote tickets { August 20 2003 } Uk firm cleared in blackout Unconfirmed reports major fire { August 14 2003 } University maryland power outage Us canada argue over cause Utility deregulation possible villain { August 16 2003 } Files Listed: 42

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