Cyclist Says Senator Marty Golden Impersonated A Cop, Senator Disagrees
SUNSET PARK – Brian Howald, a cyclist, accused NY State Senator Marty Golden of impersonating a cop and telling him he was going to “take [him] “to the precinct,” Howald tweeted. Senator says, he said no such thing.
Brian Howald was cycling to a community board meeting in Sunset Park on Monday Dec. 11. He was in the bike lane on Third Avenue, when a car came up to him and told him to move over, NY1 reports.
Here’s video I took right after @SenMartyGolden called me an “asshole,” and ~90 sec. after he:
• claimed to be a police officer
• waved a placard at me
• told me that he was going to take me “to the precinct”I’ve posted an explanation here: https://t.co/SW6jEJemJt pic.twitter.com/Q8dbFcSkr6
— Brian Howald (@bdhowald) December 13, 2017
Howald did not move. He realized that the man sitting in the passenger seat talking to him was the one and only, Senator Marty Golden.
So began a cycle of:
• me catching up to the car at a red light
• passenger maneuvering to hide face
• driver coasting through crosswalk to deny me a clear photo
• gunning the engine to blow the light at speed as soon as there was a gap in traffic.— Brian Howald (@bdhowald) December 12, 2017
That is indeed Golden, as he tweeted a photo of him wearing the same tie the same day.
Amazing group of people. John Quaglione, Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis, Chairman of the Brooklyn Republican Party Teddy Ghorra, Ray Denaro, and Vito Bruno. pic.twitter.com/bltTqA57wL
— Marty Golden (@SenMartyGolden) December 12, 2017
“The passenger then told me he was a police officer,” Howald told the Daily News. “He repeated his demand that I pull over and waved what appeared to be a laminated placard out the window at me.”
According to Howald’s tweets, “… at first, I thought @SenMartyGolden was gesturing to the right because he wanted to pull into the lot. I kindly obliged and moved forward 15 feet so that he could turn into the lot.”
Instead, his driver followed me in the bike lane
Here's a screen shot from the video I took of his car driving off:
The outer edge of the bike lane is in the bottom left corner. The inner edge is beneath his plate. The buffer is under his car's left wheel.
— Brian Howald (@bdhowald) December 13, 2017
Golden told NY1 that he never pretended to be a cop and that they drove unto the bike lane to avoid blocking the road box. He also told the cyclist to “get a life,” according to NY1.
But Howald then tweeted that Golden’s claim was entirely fictitious. He used photos to make his point.
Thus making @SenMartyGolden's claim to @NY1 that his driver entered the bike lane to avoid blocking the box, completely fictitious, since his car was clearly in the bike lane *before* he entered the intersection.
9/9
— Brian Howald (@bdhowald) December 13, 2017
Howald claims that Golden ran through red lights to avoid having their photos taken by him. According to NYC Open Data, the number plate on the car the senator was in, has faced a lot of violations.
BTW @bdhowald since Aug 2013 this car was ticketed for:
10 school zone speed cams (11+ mph over limit)
2 red light cams
6 parking in bus stops
1 parking in crosswalk
1 driving in bus lane
1 double-parking— Stephen Miller (@miller_stephen) December 12, 2017
After the NY1 interview, Golden then went on Twitter to reiterate that he did not claim to be a police officer.
Golden released this statement yesterday:
“As I told New York 1 News in my exclusive interview yesterday, today I repeat that despite Brian Howald’s accusations, at no time in the exchange did I identify myself as a NYPD Officer. By taking personal responsibility for the policing of traffic, Mr. Howald unnecessarily escalated this situation and created an unsafe environment for all involved
including himself.”
He then went on to say that this isn’t the first time Howald has “aggressively engaged a motorist.”
Howald expressed his agreement with the last statement.
It's evident that the incident with @SenMartyGolden was not the first time I have engaged an aggressive motorist on a New York City street.
However, I share the Senator's optimism that our streets can be made safer, thus obviating the need to confront dangerous drivers like his. https://t.co/sTidyV7FuJ
— Brian Howald (@bdhowald) December 13, 2017
In the end, Howald hoped for the best in the future, saying “Although they may not be the most amicable, @SenMartyGolden, I do hope that our chats will strengthen the case for safer streets in New York City.”