NJ Woman Jailed On Decade-Old NYC Traffic Summons

An Elmwood Park woman says she spent a night in a New York City jail after police discovered she had a decade-old traffic summons.

Krystle Garcia tells WNBC TV that she was arrested Thursday at a Manhattan checkpoint.

Garcia was 17 when she received the forgotten summons. It was issued because she did not have an insurance card with her.

Garcia said she received, and paid, other tickets in New York after that. She was able to renew her New Jersey driver’s license and registration without any issues.

Garcia, who has worked in New York City for the past 6 years, agreed to a $155 fine. But she said her 14-hour ordeal in a holding cell was “horrifying.” “I sat in a holding cell for 14 hours with people who had gun charges, who were fighting each other,” said Garcia.

She said she “violated” and shared her story because she doesn’t want it to happen to anyone else.

Garcia plans to file a complaint with the police department, saying she was treated like a criminal for the simple traffic summons.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.