TRENTON, N.J. (AP) —
Police officers on the George Washington Bridge last September during
lane closures apparently ordered by Republican Gov. Chris Christie's
aides as political payback said they warned superiors about the
hazardous conditions created and were told not to talk about it on their
radios, according to a summary provided by their lawyer to a
legislative panel investigating the scandal.
Attorney Dan Bibb, who works for
the union representing the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
officers, relayed information from 11 officers, including at least three
who said they were told about the traffic change by a lieutenant who
ordered them not to move the traffic cones blocking the lanes. Bibb's
comments were included in a synopsis obtained by The Associated Press on
Wednesday.
Bibb told the legislative
panel's investigators that one of the officers, Steve Pisciotta, used
his police radio to report hazardous conditions being caused by the
severe traffic and was told to "shut up" by Deputy Inspector Darcy
Licorish. Bibb said Pisciotta told him that Lt. Thomas Michaels and a
sergeant visited him "to tell him that his radio communication had been
inappropriate."
Michaels said in an earlier
interview with the investigators that the Port Authority executive who
ordered the closures, David Wildstein, called him the week before and
asked him what would happen if three lanes were reduced to one. But the
investigators said he told them that he didn't have any direct knowledge
about why the lanes were changed and that he found out about the plan
to change them the night before.
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