WHY PERPS CAN’T WALK
‘Gun in fare-beater shoe’
A group of transit cops proved that busting people for low-level offenses can still get career criminals off the streets, when they nabbed a fare-beater and allegedly discovered a loaded gun hidden in his sneaker.
Tyleek McGee, who has 14 prior arrests, had been allegedly carrying the .380 Ruger pistol in a carved-out space in his left shoe sole, according to police sources.
Cops at the West 23rd Street station on Eighth Avenue Wednesday saw McGee, 28, allegedly go through the emergency exit without paying. They confronted him and quickly cuffed him, the sources said.
Cops ran his name and realized he was wanted for questioning as part of a 2014 investigation, and needed to be brought into custody.
During their initial frisk, police said they found more than 30 oxycodone pills and roughly $2,000 in cash.
When the officers took McGee to Transit District 2 headquarters for processing, they checked him again and allegedly found the gun, the sources said.
McGee was charged with possession of a weapon, possession of a controlled substance, possession of stolen property, theft of service and trespassing.
His bust comes amid a push to end criminal prosecution of low-level “broken windows” crimes, such as farebeating and public urination.
Starting next month, the city plans to take things a step further — tossing 700,000 old warrants seeking arrest for nonviolent crimes.
Mayor de Blasio, the NYPD and four of the city’s five district attorneys have already signed off on the plan, which would apply to warrants older than 10 years.
“You still can arrest someone for beating a fare. But they’re discouraging cops from writing criminal summonses,” a police source said. “Those are the qualityof-life things that most criminals break all the time. They think it doesn’t matter to anyone anymore. They’re going to think, ‘Well the police don’t care anymore, so why should we?’ ”