Shocking video shows a group of white men setting a car free from a tow truck after they called the black traffic agent a 'loser' and told him he should go and 'work in Harlem'
- Angry residents surround the veteran traffic enforcement agent and shouted a racially charged taunt
- The car said to be 'illegally parked' was hooked up and ready to tow away when residents somehow set it free
- The incident happened in Borough Park where police say community members have expressed concern about 'illegal parking conditions'
A black 26-year veteran traffic enforcement agent found himself the subject of a racially charged taunt after attempting to haul away an offending SUV in Brooklyn.
The tow truck driver, who hasn't been named, had a car hooked up and ready to tow away on Thursday when an angry group of Brooklyn residents managed to set the vehicle loose and then started shouting abuse at the driver.
Video shows the truck driver being confronted by a group of Orthodox Jews at the corner of 44th St. and 15th Ave. in Borough Park, Brooklyn, as reported by the New York Daily News.
An angry group of Brooklyn residents managed to get the vehicle loose that had been hooked up by the veteran traffic enforcement agent. One resident returns the truck driver's equipment
The tow truck driver watches in frustration as the car makes its escape before suffering verbal abuse at the hands of angry residents
The driver is called a 'loser' by a man laughing and then subjected to a racially charged taunt with another person shouting at the traffic enforcement agent, 'You're in the wrong precinct... you should work in Harlem!'
Harlem became an African-American neighborhood in the the early 1900s and for nearly a century was synonymous with black urban America.
Sources said the dark-colored SUV was illegally parked near a corner in Borough Park, which is known for its parking problems, when the NYPD tow truck spotted it and deployed tow bars to secure the wheels.
Residents soon started gathering and a motorist that was parked in front of the offending vehicle moved out of the way so the SUV driver could make his escape.
In the video, the SUV can be seen and heard lurching over the tow bars. At one point a resident returns the removed tow rope to the frustrated truck driver.
The truck driver tries to talk to the offending motorist, and places his hand on the handle of the car door, but stopped by two men who move over to the car and confront him.
The truck driver tries to talk to the offending motorist, and places his hand on the handle of the car door, but is confronted by two men
The video was posted on a Facebook page for the Kensington neighborhood of Brooklyn.
The tow truck driver had taken a log of the licence and registration of the vehicle and has filed a complaint with police from the 66th Precinct.
Attempts are being made to locate the offending vehicle's owner.
'We're either going to go to his house and tow the vehicle or at least make sure he pays the fine,' said Marvin Robbins, a union rep for the tow truck operator.
Keeping his cool: The tow truck driver is reported to have returned to work as normal on Friday
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'We will not tolerate our traffic agents being subject to abuse in any form, not the least of which is the ugly example we see in this video,' NYPD spokesman Lieutenant John Grimpel said.
He added that traffic enforcement agents were responding to the area at the request of community members and local representatives who were concerned about illegal parking conditions.
'This is disgusting behavior against an agent who was doing his job to keep New Yorkers safe while exhibiting restraint and professionalism,' Grimpel added.
The tow truck driver is reported to have returned to work as normal on Friday.
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