Receiving a ticket for running a red light is nothing new – unless, that is, you were in jail and the police had impounded your car at the time, which is the case of 25-year old Rashad Lewis from Queens, New York.
Lewis’ story started on Friday, August 3, when the 25-year old junior at Berkeley College was pulled over for a traffic violation while driving his luxury Mercedes-Benz CL coupe in New York City.
“The cops said I ran two red lights,” Lewis told the NY Post. The police said that while searching his vehicle, they found 13 fake credit cards, and as a result, both Lewis and his friend, Gregg Humphreys, 22, who was sitting on the passenger side, were arrested on charges of criminal possession of a forged instrument and taken to jail. In the meantime, the Mercedes-Benz coupe was impounded by the police.
“I posted bail and was released the next week,” said Lewis
About a couple weeks after he posted a $3,500 bail and returned to his home in Queens, Lewis received for running a red light, which allegedly took place on August 4, when he was in prison and his car was supposedly parked at the Springfield Gardens Auto Pound in Queens.
“My first reaction was, ‘Are you guys serious?’ I had a whole bunch of emotions running through my mind. I felt violated. I don’t know if they could have committed a crime in my vehicle. I was really shocked. I was mad,” he told the NY Post.
Lewis added that his car had taken a beating. “My back window was broken, my driver’s-side door was keyed, and my bumper was scratched up,” said the college student. “They were driving my car with the windows down and having a ball joy riding my vehicle.”
The news site said that the New York Police Department (NYPD) declined to comment on the incident adding that it remains unknown if the alleged joy rider was a police officer or a civilian employee.
As for the damages to the car, a police source told the NY Post that Lewis made no complaints when he repossessed the Mercedes-Benz from the auto pound.
Photo Credits: Mercedes-Benz
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