Forget Alec Baldwin. How About Some Celebrity Failure-to-Yield Tickets?

Photo: ##https://twitter.com/intouchweekly/status/466233828542283777/photo/1##@intouchweekly##
Photo: ##https://twitter.com/intouchweekly/status/466233828542283777/photo/1##@intouchweekly##

Well that was fast. About an hour after Alec Baldwin was arrested after reportedly biking in the wrong direction on Fifth Avenue this morning, the story was all over the place.

From the Wall Street Journal:

Actor Alec Baldwin was arrested in Manhattan for riding his bike the wrong way down a street and for disorderly conduct, a law-enforcement official said.

Mr. Baldwin was allegedly riding his bicycle north on Fifth Avenue in the center of the street between 15th and 16th streets, the official said.

Police officers stopped him and asked him for identification, but he didn’t have any on him, the official said.

Mr. Baldwin then allegedly grew visibly upset with the officers, the official said. He was placed in handcuffs. Mr. Baldwin was taken to a local police precinct and was later released, the official said.

Sure, Baldwin is primo click bait right now, but consider this: Celebrity summonses are kind of a brilliant way to get the most bang for your enforcement buck. The public education value is sky high. Imagine if NYPD ticketed, say, Kim Kardashian for speeding, followed by a statement from the department along the lines of “Speeding kills, no matter who’s behind the wheel.”

Of course, there would have to be more enforcement against reckless driving for that message to stick. As of March, officers from the 13th Precinct, where Baldwin was arrested, had ticketed seven drivers for speeding this year. Meanwhile, NYPD locks up normal people after dumb bike stops on the regular.

  • red_greenlight1

    Eh, I’m just fine with this. Salmoning is not an annoyance it’s a danger. Also I saw a photo of him on the phone while salmoning so well done NYPD. Hopefully this will serve as a deterrent to others. Of course I would love to see some high profile failure to yield tickets.

  • Stacy Walsh Rosenstock

    A few Celebrity biking on the sidewalk tickets wouldn’t be the worst idea either.

  • Bolwerk

    A ticket is well and good, but arresting someone over this is over-the-top. While it’s a bit funny when this happens to a tempestuous right-wing celebrity blowhard, it could just as easily be a non-celebrity who ends up in this trap and the circumstances could just as easily be such that s/he is arrested despite not even being in the wrong.

    OTOH, a black person who responded that way probably would have been delivered a beating or a bulllet.

  • Jonathan R

    For $24 an hour plus taxes you can hire a retired cop to drive you or your kids around and avoid all this nonsense. See below job posting for details.

    XXXX Chauffeurs has a client seeking to hire a morning and a afternoon driver. Client is seeking one driver for both time frames, but may accept two different drivers. If anyone has any interest, indicate if you are interested in both assignments or just one assignment and if so indicate morning or afternoon. The client also states the driver can park in his garage at no additional cost. View the clients responses to my questions Besides the Principal will the driver routinely be transporting children? YES and they will they be accompanied by a Nanny? 2, 4 and 6. Will you require a driver throughout the year or only during school months? Definitely school months. Summer to be determined. What is the start and finish time in the morning? 6 am through 9 am. What is the start and finish time in the afternoon? 2:00pm through 5:15pm What days will the client usually require a driver? MON-FRI Will the client normally require a driver on weekends? If so how often? Extremely rare What zip code does the client reside in? 10028. What zip code does the child go to school in? 10023 & 10021. 61st between west end and Amsterdam, 73rd & Madison What zip code does the client work in? 10019. Is the driver able to drive to the clients’ garage (Manhattan clients) and switch his personal car into the clients’ parking spot after removing the clients’ vehicle at no additional cost? YES The rate to be paid to law enforcement drivers is $24 per hour. If you are interested, please email or fax a resume, and driver’s license abstract to XXXX Chauffeurs. Additionally, the driver must have a class E. drivers license.

  • Reader

    Doesn’t have to be a black person. Could be an 84-year-old man who doesn’t understand why the cops are stopping him for jaywalking.

  • M to the I

    If the NYPD pulls over a driver who forgot their license at home for a minor traffic violation, do they take them to jail and tow the car or do they just look them up on the computer in the police car and match the picture to the person?

  • Bolwerk

    True, but that was naked police brutality. At least in this case they were probably procedurally in the right. I just wish they’d be more judicious.

  • qrt145

    He wasn’t arrested for salmoning, but for the crime of disagreeing with cop.

  • Wi Cho

    More like pissing off the female cops.

  • Mags

    Totally agree. It’s dangerous to everyone (plus annoying and obnoxious). I guess similar to how double-parking is annoying, obnoxious, convenient once in a while for the person who’s doing it but dangerous for other street users, and NYPD ought to ticket it as a deterrent. I thought Caroline Samponaro from Transportation Alternatives knocked it out of the park with her comments on the latest Baldwin affair to Daily Intel…

  • Mark Walker

    My first reaction was: When did not having ID become a crime? What is this, Germany 1940? But I get it: He did something bad, cops needed info to write a ticket, and he didn’t exactly react well (not a surprise with this guy). Still, it rankles. But so does the salmoning.

  • cjstephens

    Alec Baldwin? Surely you mean a tempestuous _left_-wing celebrity blowhard, no?

  • Kevin Love

    How much does one want to bet that “in the center of the street” is totally wrong and should be “in the center of the lane.”

    I’m not a VC advocate, as I prefer 8-80 Dutch infrastructure that works for everyone, not just 1% of the population. But for that 1%, it is perfectly legal. Just not while salmoning.

  • BBnet3000

    My understanding is that in countries where people actually bike its quite uncommon to have a one way street for bikes. Plenty are one way for cars, with with bikeways going in both directions.

  • I suspect if Mr. Baldwin did not behave like a quintessential celebrity blowhard, this would not have escalated beyond a warning or ticket.Even without ID.

    Meanwhile, swimming salmon is not a very bright idea, since these streets are not signed for bidirectional bike travel. I really hate playing chicken with salmon while also keeping an eye on normal traffic.

    Sadly, this guy gets more air time and clicks than ten mere mortals run over by out of control motorists. Sheesh.

  • Bolwerk

    Belligerent and homophobic? I meant what I said.

  • cjstephens

    If Alec Baldwin is too far to the right for you, is there anyone left to be in the left?

  • lop

    It does happen to non-celebrities on a regular basis. That’s why the people pushing NYC ID are trying to make sure what they put together is something that the police would accept. Because right now there are many people in the city without ID, never mind those who don’t carry it with them at all times.

  • Bolwerk

    If Alec Baldwin is part of the left, is there anyone left to be on the right?

  • cjstephens

    So the decades he spent demonizing the GOP and (maybe) threatening to leave the US if W got re-elected, that was all for show? And his vocal support for liberal candidates across the country? He must be a much better actor than I ever gave him credit for.

  • Bolwerk

    Poor GOP. Poor, poor GOP. ;~( Its monopoly on homophobia and misogyny is threatened by Baldwin!

    But you’re all over the place. Which is Baldwin supposed to be? Liberal or left-wing?

  • valar84

    Alec Baldwin has been defending liberal causes like same-sex marriage for years and has done more for LGBT causes than you ever will. But just because he has a temper and lashed out at papparazzi with a term the PC police didn’t like, and he refused to kneel and kiss their feet to beg pardon, they turned on him, vilifying and demonizing him.

    But I guess that Alec Baldwin already had two strikes against him: he was white and male, any misstep would have led the pseudo-left activists to turn on him. What happened to him just shows how absurd the pseudo-left is. Alec was on the right side of about every issue, but he was still ostracized for not being an apologetic self-ashamed white man, apologizing for his own existence.

  • cjstephens

    Liberal or left-wing? In this context, that’s a distinction without a difference. Are you suggesting that he is one but not the other? Or neither? Or does it rock your world view that someone who agrees with you politically can be such a homophobe, misogynist and creep in his personal life? It may take some effort on your part, but I’m sure you can learn to loathe people who aren’t Republicans

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