Want to know just how corrupt New York City is? Look no further than the NYPD "courtesy cards."
The cards are handed out by the police unions, so officers can give them to friends and family members. The unwritten rule is that if you wave your courtesy card during a traffic stop, officers will let you off with a warning.
All except one.
Officer Mathew Bianchi refuses to accept the cards as a way to bypass the law just because you're in with a cop.
'It's a form of corruption,' he said. 'My approach to how I handle them is not going to change, even if some boss is going to try to punish me. I'm still going to go out there and I'm going to do exactly what I feel is right.'
And those morals got him in hot water when he pulled over a friend of the NYPD's highest-ranking uniformed officer, Chief Jeffrey Maddrey.
According to Bianchi, he was demoted to night patrol for failing to honor the chief's courtesy card and let his buddy break the law without consequences.
When he sued, the department settled for $175,000 rather than let any sort of discovery happen that would jeopardize the program.
'Resolving this case was best for all parties,' Nicholas Paolucci, a law department spokesperson, wrote in an email.
You bet it was!
However, the settlement hasn't been great for Bianchi as he was demoted back to day shift. His career trajectory has pretty much hit a dead end.
I've literally applied for just about everything since I've been demoted, and they've denied me for everything. They're not very secretive as to why, and I've had supervisors tell me why I can't go anywhere.
I'm glad I didn't take the punishment and the retaliation lying down. I'm glad that I did something.
And while there may not be much hope for Bianchi's career after the events of this story, there is some hope for any of our readers who happen to live in New York City or are planning on visiting because it turns out that a lot of NYPD cops sell their courtesy cards on Ebay for a quick buck.
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