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Husband Wasn't Missing, Just Jailed for Riding Bike on Sidewalk
By
John Del Signore
Published Jun 5, 2009
Modified Jun 5, 2009
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By
John Del Signore
Published Jun 5, 2009
Modified Jun 5, 2009
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Newlywed Rebecca Padro had just moved to Flatbush from Philadelphia, so when her husband Miguel, a grad student, went missing on his way to work two months ago, she got a little panicked. According to Fox News, Miguel had left the apartment on his bike to ride over to his part time job at the Prospect Park tennis center, but never made it work and wasn't returning her calls. After some hours passed, she notified Miguel's parents. His brother Juan rushed down from Massachusetts, and she called the 71st Precinct, where the person who fielded the call wasn't aware that Miguel had been arrested and booked that day in that very precinct.
Miguel's family spent the rest of the day and night freaking out, visiting hospitals and making calls, until another station near the park finally notified Rebecca that Miguel had been arrested after cops tried issuing him a summons for riding his bike on the sidewalk. Unfortunately for him, he wasn't carrying ID, so officers had to send him through Central Booking, which tends to take a while. In Miguel's case, it was 28 hours, which seems to be about average for a trip through the Tombs. During that time, he tried to use his one phone call to let his wife know where he was, but because her cell phone still has an out of state area code, he wasn't able to reach her. State law only allows for one local call.
"I've never been so relieved to hear that someone was arrested in my life," Rebecca tells Fox News. "It wasn't weird, it was absurd," Miguel explains to ABC7. "When they cuffed me, I said, 'You're arresting me for this?'" Now some state lawmakers are proposing a new law that would allow people who've been arrested one free phone call to any number in the country. Assemblyman Rory Lancman says, "What Miguel and his wife went through here was such a travesty. Hopefully, this common sense piece of legislation will pass and land on the governor's desk in the next few weeks." And at least it will give Albany something to do while the same-sex marriage bill dies on the vine.
Tagged
arrested
bike
central booking
missing husband
nyc
sidewalk
tombs
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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