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Peeping NYPD Tom And Puss In Boots
By
Jen Chung
Published May 17, 2007
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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By
Jen Chung
Published May 17, 2007
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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This might be one of the few times bad police behavior is well-timed with the release of a Dreamworks animated film! The Daily News reports that a couple enjoying a first anniversary celebration was spied upon by an NYPD captain who was trying to film the amorous couple with his pants unzipped. It's definitely one of the better stories about how the NYPD deals with catching criminals in their ranks.
Henry Arias and his girlfriend were at the Windjammer Motor Inn in Sheepshead Bay when they "saw the window curtain move suspiciously." Then it turned out that there was a man there! Arias said, "He's sliding the window open with one hand and had a flip phone pointing at us in the other. His zipper was open." So Arias chased the man until he said, "Hey, I'm a cop!"
"I don't believe it, so I say, 'Show me your badge.' So he does - he pulls out a badge, and I see some kind of gun," Arias told the Daily News.
"He gave some lame story he was investigating my complaint, which is a lie, because I hadn't called the police yet. Then he said he was here with his girlfriend and someone had looked in his window," Arias recalled.
All Arias wanted to do was punch him.
"But he was so scared, he looked like that cat in the 'Shrek' movie, with the big eyes. That's the reason I didn't hit him, and that he might really be a cop and he'd shoot me," Arias said. "He kept saying, 'I'm sorry! I'm drunk.' And he was, he was bad drunk."
Though the man got away, Arias did get his license plate number and went to the precinct to look at mug shots. (Arias says they really wanted him to pick one of the many Russian mobsters in the book). However, Arias picked out the peeping Tom when Internal Affairs went to his house and showed him photographs of six police officers. It turned out to be Captain James Currie of Brooklyn South; Currie was also stripped of his badge and gun and has reportedly checked into rehab.
Arias told the News, "It would be bad enough if it was some police officer, but a captain?" He also said that IAB tried to make him feel bad for taking his girlfriend to the Windjammer motel: "They said, why was I at a sleazy motel? This is America. I can be wherever. They should have been asking what their guy was doing looking in windows."
Tagged
affairs
america
brooklyn
cat
crime
daily news
film
gun
internal affairs
news
nypd
peeping tom
police
rehab
sheepshead bay
the daily news
The Police
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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