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Slain cop's widow hit with ticket - and taunts
By JOHN MARZULLI
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
A police widow who asked a cop for directions was given a summons and taunted over her husband's death, the Daily News has learned.
Lori Gunn, who identified herself as an officer's widow, had protested the ticket for driving without a seat belt by calling the cop a disgrace to her uniform, three sources told The News.
The cop shot back, "At least I'm alive to be a disgrace to the uniform," the sources said.
Gunn's husband, William, was shot in the head Jan. 20, 1989, in a Brooklyn building and lay in a coma for more than three years until he died in a nursing home in 1992 without regaining consciousness.
The confrontation over the ticket occurred Nov. 21 in midtown as Gunn and another police widow were heading to the Hilton Hotel for a party marking the 100th anniversary of the NYPD bomb squad, sources said.
Gunn stopped near the hotel to ask a cop from the Midtown North Precinct for directions to the stationhouse so she could park there, sources said.
The cop, who was assigned to the precinct's ticket-writing squad, noticed Gunn was not wearing her seat belt and wrote her a summons, the sources said.
According to NYPD protocol, the ticket wasn't mandatory. Cops have discretion about whether to issue summonses for traffic violations.
The cop who wrote the ticket and her partner have been transferred out of the precinct's summons-writing detail and could face disciplinary charges for conduct unbecoming an officer because of the remark.
Police spokesman Lt. Brian Burke said yesterday, "The matter is under investigation." He declined further comment.
Lori Gunn declined to comment yesterday.
A spokesman for the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association also declined to comment.
Over the past year, The News has reported numerous instances of questionable judgment by summons-writing cops, including ticketing a pregnant woman for resting on subway steps and elderly men for playing dominoes in a park.
The NYPD and City Hall have consistently denied that there are ticket quotas.
Originally published on November 29, 2003
Posters Note:
Interactions between the police and the general public, the vast majority of which is law abiding, are frequently a somewhat delicate or dicey thing. For various reasons, they can GO SOUTH rather quickly. One would think that police officials would do all that they can to avoid this sort of thing, but then what one would think isn't always the way things are done. All other things being equal, a consideration that hardly seems applicable here, given what seems to have taken place, particularly with respect to what was described as " the precinct's ticket-writing squad", exactly what in blazes migh that be, it seems that the NYPD, not to mention other police depts. need to shall we say, Get Basic To Basics.
By JOHN MARZULLI
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
A police widow who asked a cop for directions was given a summons and taunted over her husband's death, the Daily News has learned.
Lori Gunn, who identified herself as an officer's widow, had protested the ticket for driving without a seat belt by calling the cop a disgrace to her uniform, three sources told The News.
The cop shot back, "At least I'm alive to be a disgrace to the uniform," the sources said.
Gunn's husband, William, was shot in the head Jan. 20, 1989, in a Brooklyn building and lay in a coma for more than three years until he died in a nursing home in 1992 without regaining consciousness.
The confrontation over the ticket occurred Nov. 21 in midtown as Gunn and another police widow were heading to the Hilton Hotel for a party marking the 100th anniversary of the NYPD bomb squad, sources said.
Gunn stopped near the hotel to ask a cop from the Midtown North Precinct for directions to the stationhouse so she could park there, sources said.
The cop, who was assigned to the precinct's ticket-writing squad, noticed Gunn was not wearing her seat belt and wrote her a summons, the sources said.
According to NYPD protocol, the ticket wasn't mandatory. Cops have discretion about whether to issue summonses for traffic violations.
The cop who wrote the ticket and her partner have been transferred out of the precinct's summons-writing detail and could face disciplinary charges for conduct unbecoming an officer because of the remark.
Police spokesman Lt. Brian Burke said yesterday, "The matter is under investigation." He declined further comment.
Lori Gunn declined to comment yesterday.
A spokesman for the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association also declined to comment.
Over the past year, The News has reported numerous instances of questionable judgment by summons-writing cops, including ticketing a pregnant woman for resting on subway steps and elderly men for playing dominoes in a park.
The NYPD and City Hall have consistently denied that there are ticket quotas.
Originally published on November 29, 2003
Posters Note:
Interactions between the police and the general public, the vast majority of which is law abiding, are frequently a somewhat delicate or dicey thing. For various reasons, they can GO SOUTH rather quickly. One would think that police officials would do all that they can to avoid this sort of thing, but then what one would think isn't always the way things are done. All other things being equal, a consideration that hardly seems applicable here, given what seems to have taken place, particularly with respect to what was described as " the precinct's ticket-writing squad", exactly what in blazes migh that be, it seems that the NYPD, not to mention other police depts. need to shall we say, Get Basic To Basics.
