Cars Towed In Inwood So Cops Can Park For Football Game: Locals

INWOOD, NY — The NYPD towed 30 civilian cars on an Inwood street which was then packed with police vehicles as the department held its flag football championship game at the nearby Columbia University's athletic complex, residents complained.

An NYPD spokeswoman said the 30 vehicles were removed because parking was prohibited on West 218th Street between Broadway and Indian Road for "concerns of traffic congestion, pedestrian management, and access for disabled persons."

But neighborhood residents told NY1 that vehicles with police placards lined the road during Sunday's game at the Baker Field Athletics Complex.

One car parked on the stretch of West 218th Street on Sunday had a handwritten note in the windshield reading "on police commissioner's flag football team," NY1 reported.

Neighborhood resident Tasha Darbes told NY1 that she thought the move was "a real abuse of power" by the NYPD.

An NYPD spokeswoman said that residents were notified of the parking restrictions for the game on Wednesday, Feb. 27.

Police Commissioner James O'Neill denied that the department's actions constitute placard abuse and said that civilian cars were "relocated" not towed during a Tuesday press conference.

"This is Baker field, this is a special event. This was the flag football championship. There were cars that were relocated — nobody was towed and nobody got a ticket. Special events go on throughout this city, so this is something that the commissioners' football league has every year," O'Neill said.

The police commissioner did admit that communication regarding the parking changes could have been better between the local police precinct and neighborhood residents.

"It's not placard abuse. It was clearly marked no parking on Sunday," O'Neill said.

Mayor Bill de Blasio outlined a new plan to crack down on placard abuse in February that will replace physical placards with stickers and then move to an entirely digital system.

More than 125,000 city-issued placards were in circulation last year, 50,000 of which belonged to the Department of Transportation, the mayor's office said. The use of placards has greatly expanded during de Blasio's tenure — there were only 67,297 around in 2008, according to The New York Times.