Baltimore City Council Member Rochelle “Rikki” Spector says she was doing her civic duty when she complained to transportation officials who killed a ticket she received for “willfully disobeying a lawful order” during a downtown traffic stop last November.

“When a council person sees a [law enforcement] person not dealing well with the public, we go the next step,” Spector told The Examiner Monday. “My purpose for giving [the ticket] to transportation was to let them know who this person was. That was my purpose for calling. These agents need more training.”

Spector, a District 5 Democrat who represents Northwest Baltimore, was cited at 5:44 p.m. on Nov. 14 at South and Lombard streets for “willfully disobeying a lawful order,” a civil charge that carries up to a $500 fine, according to a copy of the ticket obtained by The Examiner.

Spector said she was ticketed after a traffic enforcement officer told her to go straight through an intersection. “I was making a turn,” Spector said, “and the officer said go straight. Then she told me to stop the car and pull over. I was late and had been sitting on the same block for 20 minutes.”

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The citation was supposed to end up on the desk of a city prosecutor, but the City Department of Transportation stepped in and had the ticket “abated,” which meant it was never entered into the electronic records system or slated for a court date, officials said.

But transportation officials said Monday they were now turning the citation over to prosecutors.

Spector said she gave the ticket to transportation officials not to avoid the fine but to report an abusive traffic enforcement agent.

“It was so stupid,” Spector said. “She had me stopped right in the intersection blocking traffic. I sat there for 20 minutes waiting for her supervisors.”

sjanis@baltimoreexaminer.com

lbroadwater@baltimoreexaminer.com