Kang Chun Wong is left bloodied after police stop him for jaywalking on the Upper West Side.
BY THOMAS TRACY
The Upper West Side jaywalking blitz is over.
Cops in Manhattan’s 24th Precinct have stopped ticketing jaywalkers on the streets where three people — including a 7-year-old boy — were struck and killed by cars in January, according to Capt. James Dennedy, the precinct’s executive officer.
“We’ve been focusing more on education than enforcement for pedestrians,” Dennedy told the Daily News following the 24th Precinct Community Council meeting Wednesday night.
Cops in the command began the massive precinct initiative in mid-January following the tragic deaths.
One of the pedestrians ticketed was 84-year-old restaurateur Kang Chun Wong, who claims he was knocked unconscious during his encounter with cops, even though he had a green light when he crossed the street.
“I didn’t commit any crime,” Wong said during the exclusive interview, translated by family lawyer Hazel Chin. “It was excessive how (the police) did it to me. If I did something wrong, I could understand, but I didn’t.
“They make me feel shame,” said Wong, who plans to sue the city for $5 million. “I was very humiliated.”
NYPD Police Commissioner Bill Bratton praised the jaywalking initiative, although he said the incident involving Wong was regretable.
“(The initiative) was a well-intended effort to try to make people just very much aware this is a dangerous location, and we need your cooperation,” Bratton explained at E. 96th St. and Broadway in January, where the three pedestrian fatalities were clustered. “Unfortunately, we had the incident of the elderly gentleman.”
Dennedy wouldn’t talk about Wong’s interaction with police, claiming the matter is under investigation.
Instead of ticketing jaywalkers, his officers are participating in a “safe cities” plan in which auxiliary cops hand out flyers to pedestrians about the dangers of crossing against the light and stepping out from between parked cars. His cops have also visited several local schools to teach children about crossing in the crosswalk, with the light.
The 24th Precinct, as well as several other Upper East and Upper West Side precincts, has also stepped up enforcement against hazardous drivers who blow traffic lights and drive erratically.
“We’ve handed out a number of hazardous-driving summonses,” he said. “We even made a DWI arrest on a day shift, which is rare.”
The pedestrians were killed by cars in a two-block area over nine days, officials said. The most recent was Dr. Samantha Lee, a 26-year-old Columbia University anesthesiology resident struck Jan. 19 as she crossed 96th St. between West End Ave. and Broadway. Other victims included 7-year-old Cooper Stock and 73-year-old Alexander Shear, known as Manhattan’s king of 20th century kitsch.
On Tuesday, Mayor de Blasio visited a public school near the scene to outline a landmark safety plan designed to drastically reduce traffic deaths.