The NYPD’s justification for choking this weekend’s car-free Summer Streets with patrol vehicles didn’t add up on Monday as Mayor Mamdani defended Commissioner Jessica Tisch’s heavy-handed approach that hadn’t been deployed previously even after actual terror attacks.
Police officials claimed they created narrow chokepoints at intersections along the car-free route in order to deter possible terror attacks involving vehicles.
But this isn’t the first year where a high-profile ramming attack preceded an open streets event. Last year, for instance, there was a high-profile ramming in another major American city one week before the start of Summer Streets — yet the NYPD felt no need to deploy their cars on the streets…