BROOKLYN (CN) - A racist toll-taker at the Queens Midtown Tunnel pointed a gun at an FBI agent's head and called eight more officers, who surrounded him at gunpoint, because the agent had tried to pay his toll with dollars that were folded instead of smooth, the veteran agent claims in Federal Court.
Wilfred Rattigan is the Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the FBI office in Jackson, Miss. He and the three passengers who were in his Mercedes-Benz are all black.
Rattigan says he identified himself as an FBI agent and showed his badge to defendant Daniel Bell, who set off the armed brouhaha with "racial animus."
Rattigan says Bell and the officers he summoned threatened him and his passengers at gunpoint after Bell refused to accept his toll, saying that the agent "should know better than to give me folded money."
Rattigan says the potentially fatal confrontation was "motivated by racial animus."
He also sued the Triborough Bridges and Tunnels Authority. He is represented by Jonathan Moore with Beldock, Levine & Hoffman.
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