A City Council member and former chair of the council's Committee on Public Safety was fined $5,000 by the Conflicts of Interest Board for allegedly using her connections to the NYPD to get out of a ticket for using her cellphone while driving.
The incident happened in March 2014, when Vanessa Gibson, who represents a district in the West Bronx covered by the NYPD 44th Precinct, was pulled over by a police officer while driving in the district.
The officer "observed that I was using a cell phone while driving in violation of the New York State Vehicle and Traffic Law," the COIB statement has Gibson admitting.
Gibson said she denied using her phone but the officer began issuing a summons. Gibson said she then called the 44th Precinct's Deputy Chief "who was off duty and at home...I told the Deputy Chief that I had not been using my cell phone while driving; I did not explicitly ask the Deputy Chief to intervene on my behalf or interfere with the issuance of a traffic summons." The deputy chief, who news reports identified as Kevin Catalina, then allegedly had the precinct's desk officer contact the police officer and told her not to issue a summons, according to Gibson's admissions in the COIB statement.
Meanwhile, Gibson also gave her cell phone to the police officer so that she could speak directly with Catalina. "The Deputy Chief told the police officer that I was head of the Public Safety Committee and asked the police officer to admonish me instead of issuing a summons."
Gibson continued, " I acknowledge that, by seeking the intervention of an NYPD Deputy Chief with respect to a traffic summons, which intervention resulted in me not receiving that summons, I used my City position to benefit myself..."
Gibson was chair of the Public Safety Committee from 2014 to 2017. She did not immediately respond to phone and email requests for comment.
The NYPD also did not respond to a request for comment.
