While 25-year-old fraud suspect Rashad Lewis was in jail in Manhattan, his impounded Mercedes CL was ticketed for running a red light. Now he claims that it was the NYPD who went on the joyride.
The New York Post reports that Lewis was pulled over on August 3 for running two red lights. The police searched his vehicle and found 13 counterfeit credit cards. Lewis and his passenger were then arrested for criminal possession of a forged instrument. Lewis' car was impounded and he was put in jail. Five days later he posted $3,500 bail and he and his car were released.
On August 15th, Lewis received a ticket in the mail from a red light camera. The photo showed his car on the other side of town on August 4th. The day after his arrest while he was still in jail. Lewis told the Post what happened when he got the ticket in the mail.
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.
An NYPD spokesman told The Daily Mail that the car received the red light ticket while being transported from one impound lot in Manhattan to another lot in Queens, a routine procedure. The Daily Mail reports that the NYPD plans to drop the ticket.
Separate from the ticket, Lewis is making a second assertion that the NYPD openly denies. Lewis claims that his CL, which the Post questionably calls a convertible, was significantly damaged while it was in the impound lot. He states that his back window was broken, one door was keyed, and his bumper was scratched. An official police report lists the car in "good" condition thirteen hours before it was caught by the red light camera.
They were driving my car with the windows down and having a ball joy riding my vehicle.
Lewis now claims he's afraid to drive the car and wants to get rid of it as soon as possible.
I'm scared to drive around in that car. I don't know if they put a bug or something in it.
The NYPD challenges that Lewis made no complaint about the condition of the car when he first picked it up from the impound lot and told the Daily Mail that the joyriding claims are false.
There was no joy ride, and the driver's claims of damage came after the fact.
Even though the ticket has been dropped, Lewis' lawyer maintains that the car was taken on a joy ride and damaged.
It doesn't change a thing...The police are obviously trying to whitewash whats going on here.
Photo Credit: NYPD via NY Post, Mercedes-Benz