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Buenos Aires mayor finds laws apply to him, too

By the CNN Wire Staff
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • NEW: Mayor faces more serious wiretapping charges
  • Mayor cited for riding motorcycle without helmet
  • He was running late because of traffic and got a ride
  • Mayor paid $34.50 fine

(CNN) -- Laws must be obeyed, even if you're the mayor of one of the largest cities in South America.

Mauricio Macri, the chief executive of Buenos Aires, Argentina, has been fined for riding a motorcycle without a helmet, the state-run Telam news agency reported Friday.

Macri said Friday that he paid a fine of $34.50 (135 pesos) and had two points levied against his driver's license.

"We all have to obey the law," he said.

The infraction occurred Tuesday, Macri said, when he was running late to an appointment due to traffic congestion.

"I got out (of my car)," Telam said Macri told Radio America. "I stopped a motorcyclist and asked him if he would take me. He said yes but obviously did not have another helmet."

Macri said he asked the motorcyclist to please look forward because "we were going to get killed."

Municipal Highway Patrol Director Pablo Martinez Carignano told FM Identidad radio that his agency issued the citation, Telam said.

"The law establishes penalties for anyone who drives without a helmet or for a rider without a helmet," Martinez said, adding that the motorcyclist should have refused to take Macri.

Macri faces much larger legal trouble, having been indicted this year on charges of illegal wiretapping. Authorities say he authorized secret recordings of political and business leaders and even his brother-in-law.

The mayor has denied the allegations.