City Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan was so convinced her neighbor was spying on her family with a video camera that she pulled strings at One Police Plaza to get cops to search the man’s apartment, law-enforcement sources told The Post.
Sadik-Khan called Police Headquarters to report that a man living in a high-rise building across the street from her West Village apartment was using a video camera to peep on her and her family, the sources said.
“It looked like a recording device and that’s what spooked her,” a law-enforcement source said.
An NYPD detective was dispatched to Sadik-Kahn’s home earlier this month and looked out the window to see what looked like a video camera in the man’s window.
The detective was satisfied that the device appeared to be a video camera and went to a Manhattan judge, who signed a search warrant allowing cops to search the man’s apartment for the device in his window, the sources said.
“It’s a total invasion of privacy. Are we living in a police state?” said a police source. “Sadik-Khan says, ‘I think he’s got a recording device.’ That’s pretty flimsy.”
When cops searched the man’s apartment, the “video camera” turned out to be a piece of equipment that can’t record anything.
“Why would the DA’s Office and the judge go along with that and sign off on a search warrant?” the police source fumed.
“That makes no sense!”
Department of Transportation spokesman Scott Gastel declined to comment yesterday.
Sadik-Khan refused to speak with a reporter at her home last night, saying, “Don’t stop me at home,” and referring the reporter back to Gastel.
A City Hall spokesman defended the commissioner’s call for help.
“Anyone should call the police if they are concerned for the safety of their family, and the judge agreed that there was sufficient evidence for a warrant,” said the spokesman, John McCarthy.
Sadik-Khan has been transportation commissioner since Mayor Bloomberg appointed her in 2007.
Additional reporting by Erin Calabrese and Josh Saul