Moment NYC councilman and exonerated Central Park 5 member Yusef Salaam is stopped by NYPD for driving around with Georgia licence plates and tinted windows - as he comes under fire for saying cops stopped him 'for no reason'

This is the moment NYC councilman, and member of the exonerated group of men known as the Central Park Five, Yusef Salaam is pulled over by cops for out of state plates and tinted windows. 

Salaam was pulled over by officers on Friday night in Harlem and was free to go less than a minute later after he identified himself as a council member. 

The police officer can be heard in camera footage released by the NYPD asking Salaam to roll down the back windows of his car. 

Salaam then informs the officer that he is a council member and asks if everything is OK, before the officer withdraws without further explanation. 

Police later said in a statement that Salaam was stopped for driving with a dark tint beyond legal limits and with a Georgia license plate. 

Salaam was pulled over by officers on Friday night in Harlem and was free to go less than a minute later after he identified himself as a council member

Police later said in a statement that Salaam was stopped for driving with a dark tint beyond legal limits and with a Georgia license plate 

Salaam, a Democrat, later said in a statement: 'This experience only amplified the importance of transparency for all police investigative stops, because the lack of transparency allows racial profiling and unconstitutional stops of all types to occur and often go underreported.' 

In a statement, the NYPD said: 'Excessive tint is a violation of the vehicle traffic law. 

'When officers stop a vehicle with this type of violation, as the video of the incident involving Council member Salaam shows, it creates a safety hazard by obstructing the new inside the vehicle.

'The officer was professional, respectful and exercised discretion during this stop. 

'The councilmember’s commentary around this incident is unfortunate and surprising given his position as a partner in the mission of public safety.'

Salaam's office confirmed to the New York Post that he had Georgia licence plates on his car until just last week, despite being in New York and holding office for two years. 

City Council Member Sandy Nurse said she was on a video call with Salaam and other people when he was pulled over. 

Nurse said she heard Salaam ask the officer for the reason for the stop, for which none was given. 

According to the NYPD Patrol Guide and the city Administrative Code, police officers are not required to say why someone is being stopped on a low-level infraction like a tinted-window violation. 

Fellow council members have since called for Salaam to resign over the interaction, with Queens councilman Robert Holden saying he had lied about the exchange. 

City Council Member Sandy Nurse said she was on a video call with Salaam, seen here in November of last year, and other people when he was pulled over

In 1989, Salaam, along with four other then teenagers, were wrongfully convicted of raping a woman. He is seen here at the age of 16 arriving at State Supreme Court in August, 1990 

In a post to X, Holden said: 'This is damning: an elected official with illegal tints and out-of-state plates, not legally registered, using his official title to evade the law. 

'Worse yet, he lied about the exchange until NYPD set the record straight. CM Salaam should resign as Public Safety Chair.'

Councilman Joe Borelli added: 'What is sad is taking an incident where someone cuts you a break, does right by you, and then misrepresenting the truth to get them in trouble.

'Had body cam footage surface of me using my office hoping to get out of a ticket surfaced, I wonder how different the response would have been? 

In 1989, Salaam, along with four other then teenagers, were wrongfully convicted of raping a woman. 

After they had spent years in prison, with Salaam spending almost seven years behind bars, a serial rapist confessed to the crime.

Salaam was arrested along with Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana and Korey Wise and accused of attacking a woman running in Central Park.

The crime dominated headlines in the city, inflaming racial tensions as police rounded up Black and Latino men and boys for interrogation.

The teens convicted in the attack served between five and 12 years in prison before the case was reexamined.

A serial rapist and murderer was eventually linked to the crime through DNA evidence and a confession. 

The convictions of the Central Park Five were vacated in 2002 and they received a combined $41 million settlement from the city.