Eighties subway vigilante Bernhard Goetz rejected a no-jail plea deal Wednesday on his pot-selling bust last month in Union Square – and then railed outside court against the NYPD.
Manhattan prosecutors offered the sharpshooter turned animal activist 10 days of community service — but he said he wants an outright dismissal or he’s going to trial.
“I think the situation is outrageous,” said Goetz. “New York is crazy right now. The war on crime is over. If police have a policy of trying to escalate arrests to make their record look good that is no way to run a police department.”
These days, he said, New Yorkers are generally well behaved compared to the rowdy hoodlums who roamed the streets in 1984 when he opened fired on four teens he said were threatening him on the 2 train.
And Goetz believes incoming police commissioner Bill Bratton is the right guy to fight crime in a more tranquil New York.
“I remember him saying 20 years ago that he felt police have to be controlled,” he said. “And I think Bratton can send that new message.”
Goetz insisted he only sold the undercover $30 in pot on because he was trying to strike up a romance with the pretty woman 40 years his junior.
He was in Union Square Park feeding squirrels when the pair struck up a conversation November 1st.
“The plans were we were going to get stoned together and take it from there,” he said.
They walked back to his apartment where he tried to give her the pot for free but she insisted on paying for it three times. She handed him $40 and he gave her back $10.
“I probably should have given her back $20,” he said. “It was a little too much for that chunk but I was annoyed.”
The age difference didn’t bother the 65-year-old.
“I’m young for my age,” he said bashfully. “If you’re a vegetarian you’re healthy.”
Goetz was cleared of attempted murder, assault and reckless endangerment raps for pumping five shots into four black teenagers.
The controversial acquittal divided the city with many arguing he was a racist and others a crime-fighting hero.
“Guns were not the answer for New York City’s crime problems but it sure helped the individual on the spot,” he said.
But today the city’s a different place.
“There are cops who feel they want to be out there fighting crime but there isn’t that much crime out there anymore,” he said. “Today I don’t think a person has to carry a gun in New York.”