Brooklyn Truck Driver Crosses De Blasio, Gets 13 Tickets

MIDWOOD, BROOKLYN — A truck driver traveling through Brooklyn on Wednesday morning was ticketed 13 times after allegedly blowing through a crosswalk containing NYC pedestrian Bill De Blasio, who is also the mayor of the city.

The close call is said to have occurred at East 18th Street and Avenue P in Midwood.

“The mayor and his security detail were on the sidewalk,” mayoral spokesman Peter Kadushin told Patch. “And when they began walking into the crosswalk, this big box truck.... approached the intersection and ran the red light.”

Once the truck driver had barreled through the intersection, he veered into the oncoming lane and “ended up going the wrong way” down the street, according to Kadushin.

That’s when De Blasio stepped in.

The mayor motioned for additional members of his security detail, who had been waiting in a nearby SUV, to follow the truck, his spokesman said.

“They see him; they throw on the lights and sirens; the truck pulls over,” Kadushin said.

Officers from the mayor’s detail then ran over to the truck and held the driver (and his passengers) until they could flag down local officers from the 70th Precinct, he said.

The truck’s driver, identified as Franky Matarrese, and its owner, identified as Rav Aphraemov, received 13 tickets between them, according to the mayor’s office. (The NYPD confirmed this number.)

Below, a full list of their alleged traffic violations.

1. Driving the wrong way on a 2 way street

2. Fail to yield to pedestyrian

3. Disobey steady red light

4. Improper use of dealer plate

5. Unqualified to operate vehicle – out of class

6. Tire belt cords exposed

7. Exhaust/muffler not properly secured

8. Rear top clearance lights defective

9. Defective rear reverse lights

10. Defective front driver’s side hazard light

11. Defective front driver’s side directional light

12. Defective windshield wipers

13. Uncovered driver’s side battery

In the time that the suspects were in NYPD custody, it appears the New York Daily News showed up.

“I didn’t do anything bad,” one of the detained men told a Daily News reporter. “It’s f***ing stupid.”

“The mayor is an a**hole,” he added.

Daily News photographer Todd Maisel claimed on Twitter that the trucker then threatened to break his camera over his head.

THEN, just when we thought this whole scene couldn’t get any more ridiculous, Maisel said the mayor’s security detail had to run to the rescue of a 300-pound man thrown off his wheelchair by a nearby pothole.

The effectiveness of Mayor De Blasio’s greater “Vision Zero” plan, which aims to eliminate all traffic deaths and serious injuries on NYC streets within the next two decades, has been called into serious question in recent days by traffic safety advocates.

On a personal level, though, the mayor’s spokesman assured us that De Blasio does his part.

“The Mayor frequently alerts commissioners or agencies when he travels around the city and sees problems that need immediate attention,” Kadushin said in a statement sent to Patch.