At least four of New York City’s 51 elected city council members blasted fellow councilman Yusef Salaam’s response to being pulled over by an officer last week, with some of them calling for him to resign as chair of the council’s public safety committee.
The Harlem traffic stop, which lasted less than a minute and ended when Salaam identified himself as a council member, came while the council prepares to override Mayor Eric Adams’ veto of a bill aimed at increasing police officers’ accountability during interactions with the public, such as traffic stops, as CrimeOnline previously reported.
NYPD released the officer’s body camera footage of the Friday night traffic stop, which came as Salaam — one of the exonerated Central Park 5 — was traveling with his family while on a call with other council members.
Police praised the officer’s professionalism in the stop and said the council member was stopped because of his illegally tinted windows and out-of-state car tags, which Salaam’s office acknowledged. They said the councilman has since obtained New York tags.
In the footage, the officer approaches Salaam’s vehicle and asks him to roll down the back window, which the councilman does immediately. Salaam identifies himself to the officer, who asks if he’s working and sends him on his way.
In a statement about the stop released on Saturday, Salaam said that he also asked the officer why he was pulled over, Gothamist reported.
“Instead of answering my question, the officer stated, ‘We’re done here,’ and proceeded to walk away,” the statement said.
Salaam’s request for the reason why he was stopped is not audible on the body camera footage, but those who were on the call at the time of the traffic stop said they clearly heard Salaam ask and that they talked about the incident for several minutes after the stop.
“[The officer] didn’t answer [Salaam’s] question about why he was being stopped,” Council member Sandy Nurse told Gothamist. “We definitely heard him ask because we talked about it for many minutes afterwards.”
Michael Sisitzky, an assistant policy director at the New York Civil Liberties Union, and Mandela Jones, a deputy chief of staff for Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, were also on the call and told Gothamist they heard Salaam ask why he was stopped.
But City Council members Robert Holden, Joe Borelli, and Joann Ariola took to social media to call for Salaam to step down as chair of the public safety committee after viewing the video, while Council member Inna Vernikov called for a public apology, according to The New York Post, all accusing Salaam of lying about the encounter.
The entire controversy swirls around former police officer Adams’ veto of the council’s How Many Stops Act, which would require officers to document nearly every interaction with the public, including stops like Salaam’s. The council will vote on a potential override of the veto on Tuesday.
Salaam was one of five Black and Latino teens convicted in the 1989 beating and rape of Central Park jogger Trisha Melli. He was convicted at age 15 and served seven years in prison before another man confessed to the attack. His conviction was vacated in 2002.
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[Featured image: NYPD]
