Jersey City Councilwoman-at-Large Amy DeGise, currently under fire for a July 19th hit-and-run, had her car towed in Hoboken back in November after parking in an illegal spot and having a registration that expired in 2019.
“This is your vehicle I take it?,” Police Officer Ramon Calderon says to DeGise on November 19th at about 12:41 p.m. near the intersection of 9th and Monroe Streets, based on police body camera footage of the incident obtained through an Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request.
“Yes,” DeGise, who was still chair of the Hudson County Democratic Organization at the time, replied.
“Okay, little bit of bad news: number 1, you got hit by a tractor trailer making a turn, partially because you’re in the no stopping no stand zone … The other part is that your car’s been unregistered since 2019 so it’s going to have to be impounded until you register and then pick it up,” the officer states.
DeGise responds by saying that she must’ve lost her registration in the mail during the pandemic and asks if there is any way she can get a ticket instead of having her vehicle impounded – noting that a family member is a police officer and that she has PBA card.
She also says that she is a teacher at the Hudson County Schools of Technology as has to get back to work.
“I wish there was something I could do: it’s been unregistered since 2019. There’s nothing … it has to be impounded until it’s registered,” Calderon explains.
“I will pay a huge ticket if I have to: I have to get back to work, I have kids at a work site,” DeGise, who was elected to the city council about two-and-a-half weeks prior, explained.
The officer continues that there’s nothing he can do to help in this situation, aside from helping her to find other means of transportation, due to the expired registration.
“I was endorsed by the police in Jersey City, I’m a councilwoman,” she starts to say before getting cut off.
“M’am, I’m sorry: there’s nothing else that I could do, that’s New Jersey state law. If you want, you can take what you need from the vehicle.”
After DeGise grabs work supplies from her vehicle, Calderon gives her a card showing her where to pick up the accident report and her car.
At that point, the then-councilwoman-elect signals that she has contacted John Allen, assistant corporation counsel to the city and close confidant of Mayor Ravi Bhalla, for help.
“Can you just wait a second, I just called John Allen and he told me to hang tight,” she said.
“I’m sorry … who, I don’t know who John Allen is,” Calderon notes.
“With the mayor’s office: he just asked to wait a minute,” DeGise states.
“He asked for who to wait a minute?,” the officer says, seemingly still a bit confused over this piece of information.
“For me to wait a minute,” DeGise answers.
“Okay, you can wait all you want m’am we have to tow the car: there’s trucks that are trying to make the turn that can’t because of this. Okay, so I have to get the car out of the roadway, here you go, hold onto that,” Calderon asserts.
The officer’s body camera is on for about 16 minutes before the tow is complete and ends when DeGise declines any further assistance from Calderon.
Back on February 18th, 2017, DeGise went to the Secaucus Police Station to retrieve her impounded vehicle, according to a police blotter released by Chief Dennis Miller.
She also had a $100 warrant out for her arrest out of Jersey City, to which she posted bail for and was then released, the blotter says.
Through a spokesman, DeGise has said she will not heed calls to resign ahead of the first rally calling for her to step down set for tomorrow after.
On July 19th around 8 a.m., DeGise did not stop or appear to hit her brakes after she hit bicyclist Andrew Black, who seemingly ran a red light, at the intersection of Martin Luther King Drive and Forrest Street, CCTV footage of the incident shows.
Surveillance footage from the West District police station released today shows that DeGise reported the incident in person around 2 p.m. on the same day.