An MTA chaplain has been dismissed for misusing his official parking placard, agency officials told the N.Y Post
Long Island imam Zameer Sattaur repeatedly left his ride in the lot of a Jericho, LI, Home Depot — sometimes overnight — with his MTA parking placard and badge displayed, sources said.
By Robin Drucker
Sattaur, 53, began the flippant placard abuse after he received multiple traffic tickets for an expired registration — but he kept up the scheme once it was renewed.
“I didn’t see anything wrong with it,” an unrepentant Sattaur told the Post
“We were giving them time for free. I was a volunteer.”
Sattaur was questioned about the misuse Sept. 19 and let go on from his volunteer position as one of the MTA’s 73 chaplains who are tasked with providing spiritual support for agency members going through a traumatic event, such as an on-the-job injury, sources said.
The MTA Chaplain Office is available for any Transit employee or family member. Whether it is for consolation, a hospital visit, help in obtaining social services, spiritual guidance or any other matter, they are here. They have Chaplains on staff of every faith. Everything discussed remains confidential (except in cases of harm to self or others), according to the MTA website
Chaplain Harry Berkowitz started in 1978 as a volunteer Chaplain for the NYC Transit Police. In 1985 he was asked to expand the program for all NYCTA employees. In 1993 he was hired on a full-time basis as Crisis Intervention Coordinator by then President Kiepper. Today, his office provides services for every MTA agency.
Berkowitz developed and oversees a program that ministers to upwards of 65,000 MTA employees working an over 5,000-square-mile area fanning out from New York City through Long Island, southeastern New York State and Connecticut. It’s not the job the Orthodox rabbi originally set out to do, but from his first subway ride-along with transit police in 1978, he knew he had found his true calling, Times of Irreal explained
The position comes with a parking placard and a badge meant to help chaplains park quickly at hospitals and incident scenes so they can more easily provide counsel to victims.
“When they get it, they are informed of the restrictions on use: Basically, official business only,” a source told the NY Post . “These are our official credentials that were displayed in a manner that allowed them to be potentially stolen.”
