Brooklyn, NY – Williamsburg Man Pins Hopes On Dashcam In Traffic Stop

Brooklyn, NY – A Williamsburg man who claims he was wrongfully ticketed by the NYPD is hoping that a video camera that he installed inside his vehicle will prove his innocence when he gets his day in traffic court.

The 31 year old man, who asked to be identified only as Abe out of fear of retribution by the NYPD, was driving from a job site to the Brooklyn Queens Expressway on Thursday morning when the incident occurred, as originally reported on CBS News.

“I was on Metropolitan and was making the left onto Marcy on my way to the ramp to the BQE,” Abe told VIN News. “I made the left onto Marcy and about half a block in I see the cop stopping me. I was wondering what happened. I didn’t have a cell phone, I was wearing my seatbelt and wasn’t speeding. I thought maybe it was a checkpoint.”

Watch below the video dash camera.

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The police officer demanded Abe’s license and registration, informing him that he had made a left turn from an improper lane.

“How could he see from half a block away which lane I was in?” asked Abe. “You can even see in the video, he had already stopped a small black car before me. He jumped away from that car to stop me and after that, he stopped another car, all in the same five minutes and took all our licenses and registration. It was impossible for that officer, who wasn’t in the intersection, to see what happened.”

Abe acknowledged that perhaps the officer had confused his vehicle with another black minivan that was at the same intersection and was about to make the left turn from the wrong lane, but instead, continued straight on Metropolitan Avenue. Abe, who says he has a clean record with the DMV, drives a 2013 black Toyota Sienna.

Abe advised the police officer that the entire exchange was being recorded. After the incident transpired, he took the opportunity to view the footage recorded by his dashcam.

“I am always careful but when he pulled me over I wasn’t 100 percent sure of what had happened,” said Abe. “When I came back to the office, I saw I was actually right.”

As someone who spends a lot of time on the road going from one job site to another, Abe considered the dashcam to be a worthwhile investment.

“I have a lot of friends who complain about getting tickets they didn’t deserve,” explained Abe. “One friend said he was leaning on his hand and got ticketed for using a cell phone, when he wasn’t. Another one got a ticket for not putting on his blinking light. When a co-worker bought this camera, which was not expensive, I decided to get one too. It’s good not only for traffic violations but also in the case of an accident when sometimes you say one thing happened and the other guy says something else. This way I have proof.”

Retired NYPD detective sergeant and John Jay College professor Joseph Giacalone told CBS that having the footage would definitely be a point in Abe’s favor.

“Having something on video surveillance would definitely help your case,” Giacalone said.

Giacalone said more personal dashcams are out there as they become more affordable.

“New technology is changing not only the way police do surveillance, but also the way the public does surveillance of the police,” he said.

Abe called the 90th precinct to complain about the $138 ticket, which carries with it a three point penalty, and has also filed a complaint with the Internal Affairs Division.

Community leader Isaac Abraham said that traffic stops such as this one are common within the 90th precinct and that he is contemplating a class action suit against, saying that he has proof of further violations by police officers. Abraham also is urging drivers to install camera’s in their vehicles to record.

It is unclear at this time if the officer who pulled Abe over is employed by the 90th precinct, or is a traffic enforcement agent.

As reported by WCBS below: