SHARE

Port Authority officer catches tractor-trailer driver duct-taping plates to duck GWB toll

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: A Port Authority cop couldn’t believe his eyes as he watched a man duct-taping the license plates on his tractor-trailer before rolling through a George Washington Bridge E-ZPass lane.

Photo Credit: PORT AUTHORITY PD
Photo Credit: PORT AUTHORITY PD
Photo Credit: PORT AUTHORITY PD
Photo Credit: PORT AUTHORITY PD
Photo Credit: PORT AUTHORITY PD
Photo Credit: PORT AUTHORITY PD

COURTESY Port Authority Police Department

Officer George Kwiecinski was in the parking lot of the authority administration building just above the roadway in Fort Lee when he spotted the rig stopped on the shoulder approaching the tolls around 5:25 a.m. Sunday, spokesman Al Della Fave told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.

Kwiecinski “figured he’d help out,” Della Fave said, “so he got into his car and wound his way down to the roadway.”

That’s when the officer said he noticed Ashwin Kumar, 28, of California, crouched down behind the 2006 Freightliner, covering up a license plate so it couldn’t be electronically read.

Kumar “must have figured he’d roll though and then pop it off on the other side,” Della Fave said.

Kwiecinski simply “slid behind him non-chalantly” and followed the rig, loaded with fruits and vegetables, through the toll lane, he said.


The officer the stopped him on the other side.

Kumar, the rig’s owner/operator, was charged him with theft of services and tampering with public records. He was released pending a hearing in Fort Lee Municipal Court.

Port Authority police will check with E-ZPass officials tomorrow to see whether he is a habitual offender, Della Fave said.

Authority officers have been snatching violators left and right in recent months. The agency also has released a list of the most aggregious offenders and is seeking to have them make good on the toll money they owe.


ALSO SEE:

Worst toll cheats cost Port Authority a whopping $6.7 million

Friday, 17 February 2012 22:31 Jerry DeMarco

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: On a day when Port Authority police nabbed several toll cheats at the Hudson River crossings, the authority issued a “Wall of Shame” of violators who account for $1.34 million in unpaid tolls and a staggering $5.36 million in fines.

The scarlet-letter list is part of a new zero-tolerance policy, Executive Director Patrick Foye said.

Topping the ledger are drivers of vehicles leased or rented by Enterprise Rent-a-Car, which trades as EAN Holdings of Tulsa, Okla.: The company owes $167,000 in tolls and $1,783,288 in fines, according to the list released today by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

READ MORE….

Israeli soldier from Cliffside Park had motorcycle flip-up plate, Port Authority police say

Monday, 25 June 2012 18:19 Jerry DeMarco

EXCLUSIVE VIDEO REPORT: A former Israeli soldier and mixed martial arts fighter from Cliffside Park gave police a variation on the flip-up license plate, using it on his motorcycle to avoid a toll at the George Washington Bridge, CLIFFVIEW PILOT has learned.

Alexander Chianurashvili 2003 Kawasaki
(COURTESY: PAPD)

Alexander Chianurashvili told police he bought a kit online for $75 that allowed him to duck E-ZPass tolls at least a dozen times, Al Della Fave of the Port Authority Police Department told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.

At the press of a button, the device drops the rear plate up so that it can’t be read electronically. It can then be flipped back up once the rider is past the E-ZPass reader.

READ MORE….

Toll evading car carrier with bogus tags caught at GWB

Sunday, 03 June 2012 09:56 Jerry DeMarco

A trucker whose car carrier bore stickers meant to look like license plate characters was nabbed by Port Authority police who said he ducked a Hudson River toll.

TOP LEFT: Truck tag BOTTOM: Car on carrier
(COURTESY: PAPD)

“He made his own plates using bought stick-on numbers,” the PAPD’s Al Della Fave told CLIFFVIEW PILOT. “From what the guys said, he did a pretty convincing job.”

READ MORE….

Toll evader who owed more than $53,000 caught at GWB

Friday, 25 May 2012 12:00 Jerry DeMarco

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: A toll cheat who already owed more than $53,000 was about to be listed on the Port Authority’s “Wall of Shame” when an authority police officer this morning spotted one of its drivers and pulled him over as he tried to sneak through a booth at the George Washington Bridge, a PAPD spokesman said. READ MORE….

Tractor-trailer toll evader caught for second time at GWB

Friday, 02 December 2011 10:59 Jerry DeMarco

CLIFFVIEW PILOT HAS IT FIRST: A repeat toll evader without a driver’s license was steering his tractor-trailer through the toll booth at the George Washington Bridge with no front license plate and a partial rear plate when sharp-eyed Port Authority Police Officer Jason Malice stopped and arrested him this morning — for the second time.

Miguel Vivar’s truck (Photo courtesy PORT AUTHORITY PD)

It was around 8 this morning when the tractor trailer came rolling through the upper level booths without stopping — and no EZ Pass device.

“We regularly have officers staff the toll plazas as part of the Homeland Security effort, looking for suspicious cargo,” said Al Della Fave, spokesman for the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey Police Department.

READ MORE….







SUPPORT Cliffview Pilot:


{loadposition log}


to follow Daily Voice Fort Lee and receive free news updates.

SCROLL TO NEXT ARTICLE