The New York State Department of Motor Vehicles has revoked the EMT license plates from a vehicle bearing a large swastika and antisemitic graffiti, after a formal request from Assemblyman Kalman Yeger (D-Brooklyn).
In a letter sent Tuesday to Yeger, DMV Commissioner Mark J.F. Schroeder said the agency was “appalled by the hate speech portrayed on the vehicle” and “abhors antisemitism in all its forms.” Schroeder confirmed that the DMV had issued the registrant a new set of standard, non-EMT plates.
The action follows weeks of public outrage after photos circulated showing the car, marked with New York EMT plate number 544, covered in Nazi imagery in Closter, New Jersey. YWN sources identified the owner as John Kanjiram, a former EMT whose certification expired in 2015.
In his initial letter earlier this month, Yeger pressed the DMV to investigate how someone without current EMT credentials could still retain specialty plates that might falsely imply emergency authority. “I’m sure there will be some free-speech nonsense about a vehicle owner’s ‘right’ to paint his vehicle any way he’d like, but I don’t believe he has the right to a New York EMT plate—particularly if he is not actually an EMT,” Yeger wrote.
The DMV acted within three days, replacing the EMT plates with standard ones. “I deeply appreciate the quick action of DMV personnel, particularly Commissioner Mark Schroeder, to rectify what could have become a dangerous situation – a vehicle adorned with hate imagery while bearing the appearance of licensure as an emergency-use vehicle,” Yeger said.
The controversy also drew condemnation from Closter officials. Mayor John C. Glidden Jr. and the Borough Council issued a statement denouncing “overt antisemitic expressions” and reaffirming the town’s commitment to diversity and tolerance.
Yeger personally thanked the mayor for his response. “I am grateful to Mayor Glidden for immediately reassuring his neighbors that they have his support,” said Yeger. “It’s important for all to know that the swastika car’s owner vile hate has no place in Closter, or anywhere else.”
Yeger emphasized that public vigilance was key to achieving the outcome. “Seeing something and saying something is what achieved this result. I appreciate all who took time to report this to the appropriate authorities. I continue to urge the local police and prosecutor’s office to look into whether crimes have been committed by the swastika car’s owner,” he said.
While both Yeger and the DMV acknowledged that the First Amendment protects the display of hate symbols, they noted that law enforcement can and should act when public safety or registration rules are implicated.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
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One Response
Oh boy y’all just made yourselves more hated. We are too comfortable and arragent in America. Sometimes silence is better then making a scene. The guy hates us already now he’s ganna have an axe to grind. So smart. Be ready to call ice or the government for backup when and if this goes south