NYC NOW - Midday News: Mayor Adams’ Closest Advisor Surrenders to Prosecutors, Suspect Luigi Mangione Returns to New York, and the Use of ‘Courtesy Cards’ in New Jersey

Episode Date: December 19, 2024

Ingrid Lewis-Martin, Mayor Adams’ closest adviser, has surrendered to Manhattan prosecutors, according to multiple news reports. Plus, the man accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson is on his way back to New York to face murder charges. Finally, a new report from New Jersey's Comptroller finds state troopers are letting certain dangerous drivers go if they have a personal relationship to law enforcement.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Thursday, December 19. Here's the midday news from Veronica Del Valle. Mayor Eric Adams' closest advisor has surrendered to Manhattan prosecutors, according to multiple news reports. Ingrid Lewis Martin, until this past weekend, was Adams' chief advisor. She was spotted by photographers from the New York Daily News, walking into the criminal courthouse ahead of an expected arraignment on bribery charges today. This is a developing story.

We'll bring you the latest as it continues to evolve. The man accused of killing United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a Midtown Hotel earlier this month is on his way back to New York to face murder charges. Luigi Mangione's Pennsylvania lawyer said in court that his client would not fight extradition. The NYPD says their detectives are waiting at the time. the Pennsylvania Courthouse to bring him back to New York to face murder charges. Federal officials are gearing up their battle against drones in New Jersey by barring them from the skies. The Federal Aviation Administration is banning the devices from airspace above many of the Garden State's biggest communities, like Jersey City and Elizabeth.

That's for one month, citing special security reasons. The agency launched the ban late last night. it'll continue until January 17th. The move from aviation officials follows more than a month of public consternation following drone sightings. Stay close. There's more after the break. A new report from New Jersey's controller finds state troopers are letting dangerous drivers keep on driving as long as they know someone in law enforcement.

The report says in a quarter of traffic stops reviewed, motorists were allowed to leave without a penalty after they presented so-called courtesy cards, which indicate a driver has some personal connection to law enforcement or told the officer about a personal connection. The news comes just a week after New Jersey's Attorney General appointed former Manhattan federal prosecutor, Prie Barara, to investigate an alleged sharp decrease in traffic enforcement by state police. Tracy Tully reports on New Jersey for the New York Times, and she joins us now. Tracy, tell us more about the Comptroller's report. What did it find?

Good morning, David. The controller took a look at 500 stops, all of which resulted in no enforcement, no ticket, no arrest. And what he did, which was unusual, was he looked at the body cam footage from all these stops, and was able to figure out exactly why people were released without a ticket. And in a quarter of those, more than a quarter of those stops, it involved flashing a so-called courtesy card. which we're all familiar with, but I guess we didn't really understand exactly how prevalent they were, or saying basically representing that they had a family member in law enforcement or that they themselves were in law enforcement.

And then they're sent on their way? Correct. They were freed. Some of the stops involved high rates of speed. At least one person represented that they'd been drinking, and none of that made a difference. Well, this comes following an investigation from the Times that found a massive slow down in traffic enforcement from the state troopers.

Can you remind us about the findings of that? Yeah, as you mentioned, Prie Pbarara has been appointed to investigate that, and it seems he was just appointed about a week ago. But the Attorney General's office in New Jersey has been looking into this for some months now. I learned of it and also we did some reporting on it. What it involved was about six months after this window that the Comptroller dealt with yesterday in his report. About six months later, essentially state police

troopers started making far fewer stops altogether statewide for traffic enforcement. In the first full month, traffic enforcement for DWI, speeding, all sorts of violations fell by more than 80 percent. And that lasted for about eight months, not at the 80 percent level, but it was roughly 60% over eight months of reduction in tickets. And this is the subject of an investigation. How did things get to this? Can you give us a little history, a little overview of the New Jersey State Police? Sure. In fact, the reduction in traffic enforcement came very soon after yet another report indicated that the traffic stops that the troopers were making had a racial element to them, that they weren't treating drivers of various races

is the same. So that touched a nerve because in like around 2000 to 2010, the state police was under a consent decree with the federal government who basically came in and took over. And the reason they did that 20 years ago was because of a similar pattern of racial bias in traffic enforcement. So this report was released in July of 2023. It's basically saying that the same problems that were discussed 20 years ago, still existed, and that reopened a wound. What is the Attorney General's power in this situation with the state police? Well, in the org chart, the state police reports to the Attorney General. So he is technically their boss, but he doesn't have the power to remove the superintendent

of the state police. That power rests only with the governor. And he also has limited powers in terms of operationally, like, for example, he wanted to start a pilot program to remedy some of the racial inequity in these stops. And basically, that never happened. Well, speaking of the governor, what has Governor Murphy said about all of this? His reaction to both situations, the Comptroller's report yesterday, as well as the news that Prepararo was coming in, was essentially the same, very muted. He has indicated that he's confident in Colonel Callahan, who leads the state police, and he has said sort of mildly critical things like he's troubled by the state police stops that were shown yesterday in video. But it's been very muted. I guess that's the best way of putting it.

All right. So what does all of this mean for those out driving on New Jersey's roads and highways? It sounds like a lot of them have those courtesy cards. Yeah, it does. I was surprised by the numbers. But for the drivers, I think things are nearly back to normal in terms of the number of traffic stops that are being made. So be careful out there. But what it means, I think there's a lot of people within the state police who were eager, in fact, for some of this to be learned and to be shared publicly.

Because I think there's many people there that would like to see some change, as well as retired members, many of whom, well, there's been a bunch of lawsuits, too, trying to remit. the culture at the state place in New Jersey. We'll have to see how the investigations evolve. Tracy Telly reports on New Jersey for the New York Times. Tracy, thank you for joining us. Thank you, David. Thanks for listening. This is NYC now from WNYC.

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