As one of his last acts in office, Mayor Michael Bloomberg vetoed a bill that would have required NYPD to report to the City Council and the public on hit-and-run crashes. With lead sponsor Leroy Comrie also gone from City Hall, Council Member Peter Koo plans to marshal an effort to override the veto.
Intro 1055, passed by the council in December, would mandate that NYPD report quarterly on the total number of “critical injury” hit-and-run crashes, the number of crashes that resulted in arrest, and the number of crashes for which no arrest was made. The bill would require the department to provide the council with crash locations, and “a brief description of what steps were taken to investigate” each incident. Crash data, disaggregated by precinct, would be posted online.
The hit-and-run bill was born of frustration and grief caused by NYPD's indifference toward crash victims and their loved ones -- investigations that did not start for weeks after a fatal crash and, predictably, yielded no evidence; families left in the dark on what police were doing to bring a relative's killer to justice. According to Transportation Alternatives, of 60 fatal hit-and-runs investigated in 2012, NYPD arrested just 15 drivers.
For all his DOT did to make streets safer for walking and biking, Bloomberg let NYPD's deterrence of traffic violence stagnate under commissioner Ray Kelly. Bloomberg's veto message [PDF], probably drafted with significant input from NYPD, called the language of the bill unworkably vague, and claimed that requiring NYPD to reveal hit-and-run data would compromise investigations while ”draining scarce resources from actual police functions."
Intro 1055 was co-authored by Comrie, Koo, and Rosie Mendez. With Comrie termed out, Koo's office says he has not given up on the bill. "Councilman Peter Koo will take the lead and work with the new speaker to override the mayor's veto," said Koo spokesperson Ian Chan. "He intends to enact this very important piece of legislation."
Said TA general counsel Juan Martinez, in an emailed statement: "The NYPD must make the arrest of hit-and-run drivers a top priority, because to do otherwise gives criminal drivers permission to remain on the road, which puts us all at risk, and prolongs families' pain. New York is better than that. We will be calling on the council's next transportation and public safety chairs to work with the NYPD and determine whether the department is giving victims' families and all New Yorkers the justice they deserve."
Asked whether Koo would re-introduce the bill if an override fails, Chan said the council member is focused on seeing the bid through. "Working with the speaker, of course."
