State Sen. Kevin Parker (right) was busted in Brooklyn yesterday for punching a city traffic agent who tried to give him a ticket, police said.
Parker allegedly crumpled up the ticket and threw it in the agent’s face before slugging him.
Parker, 35, a Brooklyn Democrat, was charged with third-degree assault and given a desk-appearance ticket, authorities said.
He downplayed the incident.
“Nothing happened. This was a mountain out of mole hill,” he told The Post.
“I was involved in a minor accident. People have traffic accidents.”
The incident began shortly before 3 p.m. yesterday at New York Avenue and Avenue H in Flatbush when Parker was involved in a fender bender with a female motorist and got out of his car to talk with her.
A uniformed city traffic agent, apparently unaware of the accident, was nearby and saw that Parker’s car was double-parked.
As he prepared to write up Parker for blocking traffic, he and Parker exchanged words, authorities said.
The agent said when he walked toward Parker’s car, Parker pushed him or brushed up against him.
The agent, who apparently didn’t realize Parker was a state legislator, then sat down inside the car to finish the ticket.
But Parker reached inside the open window, grabbed the ticket, crumpled it up and threw it in the agent’s face, police said.
When the agent got out of the car, Parker punched him in the face at least once, witnesses told police. There were differing accounts about whether the agent punched Parker back.
Sources said Parker then tried to drive off, but the agent blocked his car by standing in its path, prompting Parker to get out and push him away. The agent, who was not identified, was taken to Kings County Hospital for evaluation.
Police said the agent may have been in the wrong for giving Parker a ticket because a motorist involved in an accident should not try to move his vehicle.
But they said Parker was wrong for blowing his cool. “He’s having a bad day,” one police official said.
Parker, a lifelong Brooklyn resident, is the youngest member of the state Senate and represents Flatbush.
Before being elected to Albany he served as an aide to several prominent Democrats, including former Manhattan Borough President Ruth Messinger and former state Comptroller Carl McCall.
Additional reporting by Erika Martinez and Philip Messing