New York City has agreed to pay $175,000 to a Staten Island cop who in a federal lawsuit said he was demonized by the NYPD and his own union for failing to look the other way when traffic scofflaws flashed the so-called “courtesy cards” given them by cops they know.
Officer Mathew Bianchi said the settlement is good news but that he believes the culture he tried to expose is still a prevalent part of NYPD life.
“I feel it’s always going to be like that and that I’m always going to have a stained reputation,” said Bianchi, a nine-year veteran. “I feel like I’ve done nothing wrong. I hope the next guy who’s in my position steps up and does what’s right. But things really haven’t changed.
“They want you to see the card and turn away.”
Bianchi’s lawyer John Scola said he “showed great courage in standing up to the NYPD.”
“We hope his bravery inspires more officers to come forward as whistleblowers.”
The cards, issued by the city’s five police unions, are informally known as “get out of jail free” cards and have been a way through the years for officers of all ranks to help relatives and friends avoid getting a ticket.
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Bianchi, 40, told the Daily News last year that he probably honored 95% of the courtesy cards shown to him but that he too often encountered the same handful of reckless drivers again and again, acting as if their cards provided them blanket immunity.
“Something real bad, a serious accident, is going to have to happen for anything to change,” he said.
Bianchi in his suit said he was threatened by union officials and precinct supervisors — and he even accused then-Chief of Patrol Jeffrey Maddrey of ordering the cop transferred out of the 123rd Precinct’s traffic control unit after refusing to honor a courtesy card shown him by a woman who knows the chief. Maddrey has previously said he has no recollection of demanding such a transfer.
Bianchi’s claims came more than a decade after the NYPD was rocked by a controversy in which 16 cops were indicted and more than 500 from all corners of the city were investigated for fixing traffic tickets. Those convicted in the case left the police force.
Viorel Florescu for New York Daily News
Supporters of police officers indicted in the police tix-fix scandal, carry signs with pro-NYPD slogans in front of Bronx Supreme Court in 2011. (Viorel Florescu for New York Daily News)
Police Benevolent Association delegates were among the cops caught up in the scandal probed by a Bronx grand jury in 2011. Some of the officers were accused of taking bribes or accepting fancy meals or gifts in return for fixing traffic tickets. More than 200 officers faced departmental charges, which led many of them to lose vacation pay or face other punishments short of being fired.
The city had no comment about the Bianchi settlement, nor did the NYPD.
Bianchi is still on patrol at the 123rd Precinct and said he has been denied a transfer back to traffic control unit.
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