Six people who were snarled in “Bridgegate” traffic slapped Gov. Chris Christie, his top aide, and Port Authority officials with a lawsuit Thursday.
“This was just a reprehensible, outrageous situation caused by political motivation,” fumed Rosemarie Arnold, the attorney who filed the federal class action suit.
The six commuters, who are all from Bergen County, were “trapped on local roads” and were either late or missed work between Sept. 9 and Sept. 12 when Christie’s senior aide Bridget Anne Kelly conspired with a Port Authority official David Wildstein to shut down two of the three lanes leading to the George Washington Bridge from Fort Lee, the suit says.
Meanwhile, New Jersey’s top lawman on Thursday ordered a federal criminal investigation into the saga.
Fort Lee resident Joy Galicki was headed to work in the Diamond District when she hit gridlock.
“She was having panic attack,” Arnold said. “She was surrounded by other cars and there was no where to go. She had to get out of the car to throw up.”
The suit accuses the officials of backing up traffic in Fort as “retribution” against the town’s mayor for “failing to endorse” Christie’s campaign for re-election.
The six plaintiffs are Zachary, Joy and Eli Galicki and Elizabeth Psaltos of Fort Lee, Robert Arnold of Leona, and Kim Joscelyn of Edgewater. Joscelyn and Psaltos work for attorney Rosemarie Arnold, who filed the suit.
“It caused a lot of harm to a lot of people,” Arnold said.
The suit seeks unspecified damages.