NY Post :
MTA GUNSLINGER TAKES TOUGH TOLL
Beware what you say to that testy toll taker – he has a gun!
Last summer, a toll worker pulled his MTA Bridges and Tunnels-issued Glock 9mm pistol on a driver who handed him a wad of crumpled cash.
B&T Officer Daniel Bell, 38, was working toll booth No. 3 on the Queens side of the Queens Midtown Tunnel when a driver pulled up in a black Mercedes and handed him five one-dollar bills. Three of them were crumpled in the driver’s hand.
Bell refused to accept the cash, stating it was MTA policy, and told the driver he needed to straighten the bills himself.
The driver happened to be FBI agent Wilfred Rattigan, 48, on his way to a movie in Manhattan that evening of Aug. 4, 2007. His brother-in-law was in the passenger seat, and his fiancée and sister were in back.
What do I like about this story so much? The FBI is the paragon of the arrogance of unchecked power. And now, one of their agents has just been jerked around by a jerk who let a little power get to his head. The Romans once wondered who was guarding the Praetorian guards. Maybe our answer will be NYC toll collectors.
