Posted on 04/23/2022 6:51:41 PM PDT by algore
An FBI agent on Queens stakeout clapped handcuffs on the wrong man — a uniformed city traffic enforcement agent who wrote him up for parking illegally, the traffic agent and law enforcement sources told the Daily News.
Traffic agent Dipankar Dipu said he was still nursing an injured shoulder four days after his Sunnyside clash with fuming fed Kenneth Diu, who was parked between a metered spot and a bus stop.
“I can’t say what made him react so unprofessionally,” Dipu told The News on Saturday. “I was just doing my job. Why he assaulted me and humiliated me in front of people, I don’t know. I’m just suffering as a result.”
The federal agent was accused of assaulting and then handcuffing Dipu after the traffic agent refused to void the parking summons last Tuesday, police said.
As of Saturday, no charges had been filed against the FBI agent — but leaders of the traffic agents’ union said they hope the Queens District Attorney takes action.
Dipu, 33, was making his rounds along Greenpoint Ave. and 46th St. in Sunnyside about 2:30 p.m. when he spotted the black 2015 Jeep Cherokee with tinted windows, police and union officials said.
“The Jeep was about 30% in the bus stop area and about 70% in a meter zone,” recalled Dipu. “There was another car completely in the bus stop and I went to that car and the told the motorist to move, which he did.
“Then I came back to the Jeep. I was trying to look through the window to see if there was anybody in the car, but I couldn’t see anything.”
Dipu, noting the vehicle lacked a meter receipt, was about to stick a ticket under the Jeep’s windshield wiper when he heard some rustling from inside. Just after he placed the ticket on the window, he said, the Jeep’s occupant put an FBI placard on the car’s dashboard.
Dipu said he wouldn’t have ticketed the vehicle if he knew the driver was a federal law enforcement agent, but was unaware of the situation until after the summons was written.
A moment later, an infuriated Diu exited the Jeep and demanded that Dipu void the summons.
“He was very arrogant,” recalled Dipu, a native of Bangladesh. “He became angry with me, yelling at me to ‘Void the ticket! Void the ticket! You have to void the ticket!’”
Dipu explained that was impossible in the ticketing system, and advised the agent to contact his supervisor. Diu instead delivered his bizarre response: “I’m going to arrest you.”
“He tried to snatch my machine from my hand, but I resisted him,” Dipu recalled. “But the second time he snatched it from my hand forcefully and I could not protect it. He took it, went into the car and locked the door.”
The FBI agent used the device to somehow cancel his ticket, with a void slip popping out of the ticket printing device on Dipu’s belt.
The traffic agent had already called for a supervisor when Diu jumped out of the Jeep and threw him up against the vehicle.
“He just pushed me forcefully on the bonnet of his car and put both of my hands behind my back forcefully,” Dipu said. “It was just so humiliating. People were looking all around and I could hear people talking about me. I felt so down at the time.”
Diu managed to get one cuff on before the traffic agent’s supervisor and nearby police showed up.
“For the FBI to be embarrassing members in uniform is disgusting,” said Olufemi Sokunbi, executive vice president of Local 1182, which represents traffic enforcement agents.
“The FBI is supposed to be protecting everybody. Thank God for the NYPD police officers that showed up and were able to deescalate the situation.”
All involved went to the 108th Precinct, where Diu was ultimately released without charges and forced to pay the parking violation, police said.
An investigation into the incident was ongoing, an NYPD spokeswoman said on Saturday. An FBI spokeswoman declined to comment.
Dipu, who joined the department in 2019 and worked throughout the COVID pandemic, was taken to Mount Sinai Astoria with pain in his left shoulder, cops said.
“This cannot be happening to my members. We get assaulted for doing our job for the city every day and nobody cares,” said Sokunbi. “Nobody is above the law.”
“Makes me wonder if he lied about it being a stakeout.”
SOP for a stakeout includes parking in a legal spot so as not to attract attention. In short, I think you’re right.
On the other hand, all the above can be said about the FBI gumshoe too
“The perp” is a uniformed local government officer who was going about his legal and legitimate business.
The Fed was wrong and if he was not on official business then he should be properly sanctioned for assaulting an officer and deprivation of rights under color of authority.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.