Graham T. Beck
Recent Posts
Behind the Blue Wall With Officer X
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This interview originally appeared in the summer issue of Transportation Alternatives’ quarterly magazine, Reclaim. There are approximately 34,500 uniformed cops in New York City. For a few months this spring, it seemed like the lion’s share of them had it in for cyclists. T.A.’s switchboard was flooded with phone calls from members looking for legal […]
Former NYPD Traffic Chief Scagnelli on Traffic, Safety, and Open Data
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This interview is re-published from the fall issue of Transportation Alternatives’ quarterly magazine, Reclaim. A few months after he turned 63 and was forced to retire from a distinguished 39-year career with the New York City Police Department, Chief Michael Scagnelli testified in favor of a T.A.-backed City Council bill that would make portions of […]
Fourth Witness Reports Seeing Police Chase Van Before Fatal Crash
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A sidewalk tribute to Violetta Kryzak. (Image: Greenpoint Gazette) Another Greenpoint resident has come forward reporting to have seen a police car, in violation of NYPD policy, chasing the speeding white mini-van that took the life of Violetta Kryzak in April. Earlier this week, a reader who chose to be identified as ‘Alex B.’ emailed […]
NYPD Won’t Acknowledge Eyewitness Accounts in Death of Greenpoint Mom
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Manhattan Avenue minutes after the deadly crash. (Image: Greenpoint Gazette) The NYPD continues to dispute eyewitness accounts of the events that preceded the vehicle-on-pedestrian collision that took the life of Violetta Kryzak, a 38-year-old mother and Greenpoint resident. Despite the statements of three separate eyewitnesses stationed several blocks from one another who claim that at […]
NYPD Denies High-Speed Chase in Death of Greenpoint Mom
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Deputy Inspector Dennis Fulton at last Monday’s 94th Precinct Community Council meeting. The New York City Police Department denies that it was involved in a high-speed police chase preceding the vehicle-on-pedestrian collision that took the life of Violetta Kryzak, a 38-year-old Polish-American mother and Greenpoint resident, despite eyewitness accounts to the contrary first published by […]
Car Chases: Not Like What You See in the Movies
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The aftermath of yesterday’s deadly car chase on Manhattan Avenue. Photo: Graham T. Beck Manhattan Avenue, the bustling main street in my usually quiet Brooklyn neighborhood, became a multi-block crime scene yesterday afternoon when a mini-van driver, reportedly fleeing police at high speed, struck and killed a woman near India Street before crashing into a […]
Transit Service Shrinking? Get Ready for the Rise of the Dollar Van.
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Dollar Van Demos, the unlikely union of transportation needs and musical dreams that has entranced New York bloggers, is giving private transit operators in Brooklyn and Queens some of the best press they’ve ever received. But that isn’t the only reason it’s worth taking a fresh look at dollar vans. If the state legislature can’t […]