Council President Issued Summonses During Traffic Stop

Councilman Ravi Bhalla was issued four traffic violations on at Washington Street and Observer Highway at 8:56 a.m. on Tuesday morning, according to the four written summonses obtained by Patch. 

Bhalla received four tickets: driving with an expired license, failure to exhibit valid insurance papers, driving while suspended and taking an illegal right turn at a traffic signal. 

In a phone interview on Wednesday, Bhalla said that his license had expired 12 days earlier, on May 31. After being pulled over on Tuesday, he said, he renewed his license. 

It turned out, Bhalla continued, that the suspension on his license was a mistake, based on a traffic ticket from last year in New York City, that he had already paid. The Motor Vehicle Commission has lifted the suspension, Bhalla said.

Bhalla clarified that he didn't have his insurance card on him, but in fact has valid insurance.