A downtown garage owner has sued the MTA to stop the agency’s cops from searching customers’ cars.
“The MTA is doing everything they can to drive my clients out of business,” said Samuel Racer, lawyer for Kura River Management.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority relocated hundreds of its employees from the New York Coliseum to a 33-story building at 2 Broadway last week. Since moving in, MTA cops have searched the cars of regular customers of the commercial garage that shares the building, as a condition of parking there.
The MTA cites security concerns, but the owners and motorists said the inspections smack of harassment.
The garage owners have filed for an injunction in state Supreme Court to try to stop the MTA from searching customers’ cars. The case is expected to be heard Friday.
Racer said Police Headquarters has the only public garage he’s aware of where cops do extensive searches of vehicles.