Post by onthejob on Feb 11, 2014 22:50:56 GMT -5
A politically connected Brooklyn pastor was arrested for a pair of open warrants but was spared a night in jail after Mayor de Blasio called an NYPD boss to inquire about his close pal.
Hours later, Bishop Orlando Finlayter was yukking it up with hizzoner at the head table at a Bed-Stuy breakfast Tuesday with guest speaker Rev. Al Sharpton and 200 other pastors.
Findlayter, the head of Brooklyn’s New Hope Christian Church who was instrumental in delivering the black vote to de Blasio was pulled over at 11:21 pm Monday in East Flatbush for making a left turn without signaling, police said.
Cops ran his plate and discovered two outstanding warrants, issued Jan. 16, for failure to appear in court for prior arrests at protests.
He was hit with the traffic violation and charged with driving without a license.
Findlayter was looking at a night behind bars because the arrests came too late for him to be arraigned.
That’s when his clergy pals reached out to the mayor and the NYPD.
De Blasio admittedly called a top police spokeswoman Kim Royster.
"The Mayor reached out to Deputy Chief Royster to get clarification on word that there had been an arrest of a respected local clergyman,” said de Blasio spokesman Phil Walzak.
Around the same time, the 67th Precinct’s commanding officer, Deputy Inspector Kenneth Lehr who also knows Findlayter went down to the stationhouse to personally spring the bishop and tell him to be in court Tuesday.
A police source said Findlayter later appeared before a judge and the warrants were tossed.
Lehr, as commanding officer, was allowed to free Findlayter at his discretion if he believed the bishop didn’t pose a threat, said top NYPD spokesman Stephen Davis.
But Sgt. Ed Mullins, president of the Sergeants Benevelent Association, cried foul. “If a guy has a warrant, you don’t let him go. Period,” he said. “There is no `discretion. "What if you release him and he drives a block, blows a red light and runs somebody over and kills him? As a police supervisor, you have a lot to answer for.”
“He just confirmed that it really is a ‘tale of two cities.’”
De Blasio was outspoken against the NYPD cops who were caught up in the Bronx ticket-fixing scandal, but went to bat for constituents when he was on the City Council to get parking tickets and garbage fines tossed or reduced, public records show.
City Hall aides insist the mayor did not ask that Findlayter be kept out of jail, and that the NYPD’s decision to spring the preacher was made before the mayor got involved.
Findlayter, who lives in Nassau County, did not return calls. He played a key role in de Blasio’s mayoral win, endorsing him on June 12 and rallying the black vote when he was running fourth in the polls.
The bishop performed the invocation at the City Council’s first public meeting Jan. 22. A woman at his home defended him, shouting, “So what? He didn’t do anything wrong!”
Monday’s arrest wasn’t the bishop’s his first run-in with the court system. Public records show he has a string of court judgments against him, was foreclosed on by a mortgage lender and also declared bankruptcy.
SOUNDS LIKE THE LAST DALE/MANGANO SCANDAL. CORRUPTION AT ITS FINEST.
Hours later, Bishop Orlando Finlayter was yukking it up with hizzoner at the head table at a Bed-Stuy breakfast Tuesday with guest speaker Rev. Al Sharpton and 200 other pastors.
Findlayter, the head of Brooklyn’s New Hope Christian Church who was instrumental in delivering the black vote to de Blasio was pulled over at 11:21 pm Monday in East Flatbush for making a left turn without signaling, police said.
Cops ran his plate and discovered two outstanding warrants, issued Jan. 16, for failure to appear in court for prior arrests at protests.
He was hit with the traffic violation and charged with driving without a license.
Findlayter was looking at a night behind bars because the arrests came too late for him to be arraigned.
That’s when his clergy pals reached out to the mayor and the NYPD.
De Blasio admittedly called a top police spokeswoman Kim Royster.
"The Mayor reached out to Deputy Chief Royster to get clarification on word that there had been an arrest of a respected local clergyman,” said de Blasio spokesman Phil Walzak.
Around the same time, the 67th Precinct’s commanding officer, Deputy Inspector Kenneth Lehr who also knows Findlayter went down to the stationhouse to personally spring the bishop and tell him to be in court Tuesday.
A police source said Findlayter later appeared before a judge and the warrants were tossed.
Lehr, as commanding officer, was allowed to free Findlayter at his discretion if he believed the bishop didn’t pose a threat, said top NYPD spokesman Stephen Davis.
But Sgt. Ed Mullins, president of the Sergeants Benevelent Association, cried foul. “If a guy has a warrant, you don’t let him go. Period,” he said. “There is no `discretion. "What if you release him and he drives a block, blows a red light and runs somebody over and kills him? As a police supervisor, you have a lot to answer for.”
“He just confirmed that it really is a ‘tale of two cities.’”
De Blasio was outspoken against the NYPD cops who were caught up in the Bronx ticket-fixing scandal, but went to bat for constituents when he was on the City Council to get parking tickets and garbage fines tossed or reduced, public records show.
City Hall aides insist the mayor did not ask that Findlayter be kept out of jail, and that the NYPD’s decision to spring the preacher was made before the mayor got involved.
Findlayter, who lives in Nassau County, did not return calls. He played a key role in de Blasio’s mayoral win, endorsing him on June 12 and rallying the black vote when he was running fourth in the polls.
The bishop performed the invocation at the City Council’s first public meeting Jan. 22. A woman at his home defended him, shouting, “So what? He didn’t do anything wrong!”
Monday’s arrest wasn’t the bishop’s his first run-in with the court system. Public records show he has a string of court judgments against him, was foreclosed on by a mortgage lender and also declared bankruptcy.
SOUNDS LIKE THE LAST DALE/MANGANO SCANDAL. CORRUPTION AT ITS FINEST.
