(Editor's Note: This letter was originally sent to Mayor Barbara Miller and is printed here at Mr. Carew's request.)

On Friday, Aug. 22, I had a very disturbing encounter with a member of the Garden City Police Department (GCPD). I have filed a statement with the GCPD complaining about this incident. As I await the results of the internal investigation, I would like to lay out the facts to you and to the other civilian powers that be in this village so as to assure that this matter is treated seriously and objectively.

At approximately 3 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 22, I parked my car in the village lot behind the Bank of NY on Seventh Street. I parked in a three-hour spot near the railroad and was walking toward the rear entrance of 61 Hilton Avenue, where my father has an office and where I am working this summer.

As I traversed the lot toward the Bank of NY, I looked to my right and spotted a GCPD SUV (the SUVs that generally carry the brown-shirted parking lot police) well down to my right just beginning to accelerate from the STOP sign at the nearest Seventh Street exit of the lot. As I crossed, I noticed with alarm that the SUV was approaching at a high rate of speed (especially for a parking lot) but had neither its emergency lights nor its siren sounding.

Noting that the vehicle was approaching quite rapidly, I continued to look in that direction as I crossed, wondering to myself if the officer was going to slow down. He did come to a rather abrupt stop to the right of me. As I crossed in front of him, I got to roughly halfway across the front of the officer's vehicle when the officer gunned the engine, swerved left around me and honked rather insistently on the horn.

This scared me half to death because for a moment I thought the vehicle was going to strike my body. After getting over the initial fear, I was incensed and chased after the SUV, cursing loudly and demanding it to stop. However, the SUV just continued to accelerate and then recklessly rolled through the STOP sign at the Hilton Avenue exit of the lot, making a right onto Hilton. Luckily, I did see the number on the SUV's plate - 387.

I might add that while the parking lot was relatively empty on this summer afternoon, there were a number of smokers standing outside the rear entrance of 61 Hilton who witnessed this incident and they too were shocked by what they saw.

I subsequently retired to my father's office, where I placed a call to GCPD headquarters and spoke with Lieutenant Jackson. The lieutenant informed me that I could make a statement at headquarters, which I proceeded to do later that afternoon.

Mayor Miller, I am sure you would agree that this behavior would be unacceptable on the part of a civilian, never mind on the part of a GCPD officer - whether a regular police officer or a parking enforcement officer. I have lived in Garden City (with interludes away for college and law school) for 23 years. In the 23 years preceding this incident, I have never had a bad experience with the GCPD but this is utterly unacceptable and I will not tolerate it. Frankly, neither should you.

I am a huge fan of and have a great deal of respect for the police, and law enforcement in general. However, bad cops like this individual taint the reputation of the vast majority of good cops. Such reckless actions harassing a citizen should result in the termination of such a bad apple from the force.

Power can have a corrupting influence on certain individuals and it appears that this particular officer is just such a person who mistakes a little official power with a license to do whatever he/she pleases, regardless of the ramifications. Such people rarely act like this on only one occasion, and I would posit that for every citizen that comes forward to complain, there are likely a dozen more citizens who have not bothered, thinking it was not worth their trouble. Suffice to say this officer picked the wrong citizen to mess with.

Mayor Miller I ask that you give your personal attention to this serious matter. It is my position that this officer should no longer be employed by the GCPD, which is an otherwise excellent, highly professional and dedicated force. Please keep me informed as to the status of the internal investigation. I would also like to know who this officer is and whether complaints were lodged against this officer in the past.

I trust that this situation will be handled expeditiously and justly by village officials and that therefore I will not have to take further steps to assure a just result.

Michael Carew