Suspicious activity in New York ignored by police

Suspicious activity in New York ignored by police
WFSB Channel 3 Exclusive

Suspicious activity in New York ignored by police

Hartford -- A man from Vernon was recently driving through New York when he saw something suspicious but when he called police to alert them he says no one seemed to care.

A few days ago, Mike Maney was on his weekly trip from Vernon to Northern New Jersey to pick up merchandise. He was waiting in traffic at the approach to the George Washington Bridge when he noticed three men in the car next to him with a camera.

"I came across a vehicle sitting across from us in traffic, with three middle eastern looking men in it, with a very small palm video camera,"said Maney,"... sat across from them for a minimum of 20 minutes and the entire time they were filming structures of the tunnels and the bridge."

Once the men spotted Maney watching, they appeared to become suspicious of him.

"The first time they saw me he instantly put the camera down in his lap and rolled the window up,"he said," ... and every time he got a car length in front of me the camera came back out and he went back to filming.

Maney says he dialed 911 from his cell and he expected a big response.

"We figured the bridge would be shut down with the information I gave them,"he said.

Maney says he gave dispatchers a description of the vehicle, and a license plate number but the calls made little progress because no one was sure who was supposed to respond.

"The woman on the other line who was a sergeant said 'well we're just not sure that was our jurisdiction,' which really disgusted me,"he said.

Maney followed the car across the bridge into New Jersey and eventually onto the Jersey Turnpike where it disappeared, without ever being stopped by a police officer.

"I was on the phone with 911, gave them a description of the vehicle, make, model, license plate number, what they were wearing, what the camera looked like, I mean literally sitting next to them in bumper to bumper traffic,"he said," .... in New York, on the bridge and going all the way to New Jersey to the New Jersey turnpike where we turned off."

A spokesman for the New York State Police says the bridge is not in their jurisdiction and that the call would have been turned over to Port Authority police officers, who typically should have responded.

Mike Maney says he is sure a mistake was made.

"The first person who took my phone call should have taken it seriously, have somebody respond, pull the people over and see whether it was legit,"he said.

Eyewitness news called the Port Authority police, the FBI in New Haven, New York and Washington, and the Department of Homeland Security but none of the agencies have returned the calls.