How far should cops go to ticket jaywalkers, particularly when dealing with non-English speaking senior citizens? An 84-year-old upper-West Side resident was targeted by New York's finest, and ended up arrested, bloodied and hospitalized.
"Kang Wong was strolling north on Broadway and crossing 96th Street at around 5 p.m., when an officer told him to halt because he had walked against the light," writes The Post's Kevin Sheehan. "Police were targeting jaywalkers in the area following the third pedestrian fatality this month around West 96th Street." In fact, a pedestrian fatality had occurred at that intersection earlier in the day, states WNYC's Brian Lehrer on his Jan. 24th show devoted to this topic.
Upon seeing Wong cross the intersection against the light, an officer walked him to a corner, "stood him up against the wall and was trying to write him a ticket. The man didn’t seem to understand, and he started walking away." According to a witness, Wong "didn’t seem to speak English."
“The cop tried to pull him back, and that’s when he began to struggle with the cop,” said the witness. “As soon as he pushed the cop, it was like cops started running in from everywhere.”
Wong was left bleeding and dazed with cuts to his face.
He was cuffed and and taken to St. Luke’s Hospital. After several hours, he was hauled off to the 24th Precinct station house.
"Mayor de Blasio said ticketing pedestrians is not part of his Vision Zero strategy, but he endorsed the 24th precinct’s approach," writes Streetsblog's Brad Aaron. Brian Lehrer plays a short tape of the mayor defending the actions by the police in this arrest.
FULL STORY: Cops bloody old man — for jaywalking
New York Mayor de Blasio Details Vision Zero Traffic Safety Plan
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio gathered Police Commissioner William Bratton and Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg to make the potentially historic policy announcement: the Vision Zero plan, which treats all traffic deaths as preventable.
Louisville High Injury Network To Help Guide Transportation Decisions
The new tool highlights the streets that pose the biggest risk to pedestrians and other road users.
Pedestrian Deaths Tick Down — But Rose 58 Percent in the Last Decade
Road fatalities fell by a meager 4 percent in the first half of 2023.
Depopulation Patterns Get Weird
A recent ranking of “declining” cities heavily features some of the most expensive cities in the country — including New York City and a half-dozen in the San Francisco Bay Area.
California Exodus: Population Drops Below 39 Million
Never mind the 40 million that demographers predicted the Golden State would reach by 2018. The state's population dipped below 39 million to 38.965 million last July, according to Census data released in March, the lowest since 2015.
Chicago to Turn High-Rise Offices into Housing
Four commercial buildings in the Chicago Loop have been approved for redevelopment into housing in a bid to revitalize the city’s downtown post-pandemic.
EV Infrastructure Booming in Suburbs, Cities Lag Behind
A lack of access to charging infrastructure is holding back EV adoption in many US cities.
Seattle Road Safety Advocates Say Transportation Levy Perpetuates Car-Centric Status Quo
Critics of a proposed $1.3 billion transportation levy say the package isn’t enough to keep up with inflation and rising costs and fails to support a shift away from car-oriented infrastructure.
Appeals Court: California Emissions Standards Upheld
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the California Air Resources Board, the nation's two most powerful environmental regulatory agencies, won an important round in federal court last week. But the emissions standards battle may not be over.
Barrett Planning Group LLC
City of Cleburne
KTUA Planning and Landscape Architecture
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact Transit + Community
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
City of Universal City TX
ULI Northwest Arkansas
City of Laramie, Wyoming
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
