What if every red light ticket the NYPD gave to cyclists since late 2019 was bogus?
This is the implication of a decision issued by a State Supreme Court judge in Manhattan last week, which may affect an untold number of cyclists who have been charged with running a red light over the last six years.
Our story begins last October, when East Village resident Louise Segev was stopped by an NYPD officer at First Avenue and East 49th Street while she was biking to work. Segev was issued a criminal summons for running a red light as part of the Adams administration's criminal crackdown on cycling.
Segev told Hell Gate that, thanks to the "leading pedestrian interval" law passed by the City Council in 2019, she knew she had a right to cross with the green pedestrian signal, even when the traffic light was red, but that she didn't bring it up with Officer Paul Pee, the cop who was writing her the ticket. "I try not to talk to the police too much," she explained. In his summons, Officer Pee claimed that Segev violated the state's law against running red lights—VTL section 1111 (d)(1)—and did not note whether Segev had a green pedestrian signal.