*NYC councilmember Yusef Salaam, one of the exonerated “Central Park Five,” is speaking out after police pulled him over for no apparent reason.
“Last night, while driving with my wife and children and listening in to a call with my Council colleagues on speakerphone, I was pulled over by an NYPD officer in my beloved Village of Harlem within the 28th Precinct. I introduced myself as Councilman Yusef Salaam, and subsequently asked the officer why I was pulled over. Instead of answering my question, the officer stated, ‘We’re done here,’ and proceeded to walk away,” Salaam explained in a statement released Saturday morning, NBC New York reports.
Salaam was on a call on speakerphone with other council members discussing police stops when he was pulled over.
USA Today reports that the NYPD defended the officer’s actions during Friday’s traffic stop, saying Salaam was pulled over for tinted windows. The department posted a statement along with the body-cam footage, saying, in part, “As the video shows, throughout this interaction, the officer conducted himself professionally and respectfully,” the department statement said.
“This officer should be commended for his polite, professional, and respectful conduct and for using his discretion appropriately so the councilmember could complete his official duties,” the statement continued.
In the footage, the officer does not explain why he pulled Salaam over. The traffic stop comes amid an ongoing City Hall battle over a police transparency law called the “ How Many Stops Act.”
NYC Mayor Eric Adams recently “vetoed two city council bills last week — one which would require more transparency in police encounters with civilians,” per NBC New York.
“This experience only amplified the importance of transparency for all police investigative stops because the lack of transparency allows racial profiling and unconstitutional stops of all types to occur and often go unreported,” Salaam said, USA Today reports.
“Many of us in the council know what it’s like to feel vulnerable and powerless when stopped by an officer because we have personally experienced triggering interactions like I had last night,” Salaam said the morning after the incident. “It is our duty as public servants to collect the data necessary to determine the pervasiveness of these stops and solutions to build the trust necessary to make our neighborhoods safer.”
Adams reportedly invited Salaam and other councilmembers to participate in a ride-along with NYPD. Salaam was set to attend on Saturday but backed out after the previous night’s traffic stop.
“In light of this encounter and coupled with the lack of logistical details provided by Mayor Adams’ office in advance, I will no longer be participating in tonight’s scheduled ride-along with the Mayor and NYPD. It is critical that I begin to organically develop constructive relationships with all of the precincts in City Council District 9,” Salaam said in a statement.
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