A flabbergasted Manhattan entrepreneur says he was ticketed for jogging too early in Central Park.
“I just got a SUMMONS for running in Central Park at 430 am ‘before it opened.’ ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME NEW YORK CITY?” a furious Peter Shankman tweeted Thursday morning.
The founder of Help a Reporter Out and self-described “author, speaker, and worldwide connector,” was on the second mile of a 10-mile run through the green space at 4:30 a.m. when a police officer stopped him because the park is technically closed from 1 a.m. to 6 a.m.
“It’s something you heard, but I’d never seen a sign for it or anything,” Shankman, 41, told The Post. “I can’t believe it — I just got a summons for exercising!”
Shankman, who is training for an Ironman race, said he started especially early because he wanted to complete the run before his first meeting of the morning.
“If the park is closed, I get that. I get it. It’s designed to get people out by 1 a.m. I understand that.
“The issue I have is — that’s the letter of the law. The spirit of the law — I don’t think it was crafted to prevent people from getting up early after a healthy night of sleep and going to the park to work out.”
He’ll run to court in May to fight the ticket.