Police Apologize in Person for Cyclist’s Ticket in Park
By JOSEPH GOLDSTEIN
David Regen was sitting down to dinner Tuesday night when two police officers appeared at his home under circumstances that will instantly evoke envy from any New Yorker who has ever been issued a ticket.
The officers had come over to apologize for a ticket issued to him earlier that day.
“They said, ‘We’re here because we’re withdrawing your ticket because we feel you were treated unfairly,’ ” Mr. Regen recalled about an hour later in a telephone interview.
The ticket was for speeding through Central Park on a bicycle some 13 hours earlier. Mr. Regen, who lives on West End Avenue at 103rd Street, was one of 10 cyclists caught Tuesday morning on a police speed gun, a rarity during the early-morning hours in Central Park, when cars are not allowed on most of the roads.
Last night, police officers from the Community Affairs Bureau were tracking down other riders who had been ticketed that morning.
“We have taken a proactive approach to ensure that people improperly issued a summons will be notified,” said Deputy Inspector Kim Royster, a Police Department spokeswoman. She added that the personal notifications would extend only to city residents, and that any others would be notified by mail.
The speed at which Mr. Regen, 49, had been traveling as he coasted down a hill on West Drive inside the park was not terribly fast — 25 miles per hour, according to the ticket. That is the same speed at which cars are permitted to travel when the roads are open to them.
But parks department regulations dating from 1991 limit bike riders to 15 m.p.h, though even the police say this lower limit could be better posted inside the park.
In fact, it was not the speed itself that appears to have prompted the mistake that led to Mr. Regen’s ticket being voided. While the tickets were issued for violating the limit in the park, all but one of the 10 citations ordered the defendants to appear in traffic court, Inspector Royster said. The tickets should have been answerable in Criminal Court, because it was a violation of parks department regulations, she said.
For Mr. Regen, the mere fact that the ticket was voided and an apology issued was enough — even if the 15 m.p.h. limit he dislikes remains in effect.
The officers had come over to apologize for a ticket issued to him earlier that day.
“They said, ‘We’re here because we’re withdrawing your ticket because we feel you were treated unfairly,’ ” Mr. Regen recalled about an hour later in a telephone interview.
The ticket was for speeding through Central Park on a bicycle some 13 hours earlier. Mr. Regen, who lives on West End Avenue at 103rd Street, was one of 10 cyclists caught Tuesday morning on a police speed gun, a rarity during the early-morning hours in Central Park, when cars are not allowed on most of the roads.
Last night, police officers from the Community Affairs Bureau were tracking down other riders who had been ticketed that morning.
“We have taken a proactive approach to ensure that people improperly issued a summons will be notified,” said Deputy Inspector Kim Royster, a Police Department spokeswoman. She added that the personal notifications would extend only to city residents, and that any others would be notified by mail.
The speed at which Mr. Regen, 49, had been traveling as he coasted down a hill on West Drive inside the park was not terribly fast — 25 miles per hour, according to the ticket. That is the same speed at which cars are permitted to travel when the roads are open to them.
But parks department regulations dating from 1991 limit bike riders to 15 m.p.h, though even the police say this lower limit could be better posted inside the park.
In fact, it was not the speed itself that appears to have prompted the mistake that led to Mr. Regen’s ticket being voided. While the tickets were issued for violating the limit in the park, all but one of the 10 citations ordered the defendants to appear in traffic court, Inspector Royster said. The tickets should have been answerable in Criminal Court, because it was a violation of parks department regulations, she said.
For Mr. Regen, the mere fact that the ticket was voided and an apology issued was enough — even if the 15 m.p.h. limit he dislikes remains in effect.
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