Critical Mass Cyclist Attack Cop Indicted

Treehugger.com:

You may recall us posting this video in July, where a New York cop "toppled" a cyclist participating in a critical mass ride. While bikes are quick, the wheels of justice are slow, but they finally got around to deciding what to do about this. According to the New York Times, a grand jury has indicted the officer, Patrick Pogan, who did the deed.

The lawyer for Pogan still says that his client was justified. "My client denies any wrongdoing in this matter," Mr. London said in an interview Monday afternoon. "I would have people withhold judgment until all the evidence comes out about the bicyclist's actions prior to my client taking action."

Read the whole story: Treehugger.com

Comments

[loki]

I ride, I love to ride. Ive ridden a bicycle for over 40 years , and almost everyday. But I have always found these Critical Mass AHoles to be the worst thing for bicyclist everywhere. They scream and pout about cars, but then run stop signs. When I ask then about this, they whine that " its harder for me to get started" Bunch of cry babies who can do nothing but stir up trouble and hurt the rest of us who ride bicycles.

[smallfish]

maybe the cop saw this cyclist do something like graze a pedestrian as he was coming down the road.
even so. the cop appointed himself judge and jury and delivered punishment. that is not his job.
he could have killed the cyclist. i have been in a bike accident at that speed and it's dangerous.

[Keith52]

I've read all articles concerning this and have not seen any reason given for the Policeman's action. If "heading straight at him" was the excuse then he is lying. The video shows the cyclist waaay to the right of the policeman who moved toward the cyclist by at least 8 - 10 feet in order to make contact.

Every Policeman I have had contact with in the past 5 years has been very angry and aggressive. What is going on? Not a good enough pension?

[jake106]

Maybe you are an A-hole?

LOL! Sorry, I just had to say it. I have no idea if you are or not, but you have to admit, the way you phrased your statement certainly made it sound like YOU were the problem.

[Lionsden]

The biker was moving along at the same speed with their other bikers, nothing looked amiss. What was the cop doing without proper gear (reflective vest, megaphone, flag, flashlight, etc) to stop cyclers moving at those speeds?

Who knows WHAT the rider was looking at when he got into the area where the cop was? Maybe he was checking out his bicycle chain or WHATEVER and looked up at the last minute to see a pedestrian (the cop) right on top of him.

The cop appears to use excessive force. He could have killed the biker.

Cops in America, like in totalitarian countries, often go ballistic when people exhibit an attitude which is anything but total submission.

I'm all for Americans arming themselves to the teeth and firing most cop departments in America.

Threaten to defund your local cops. That will make them be nicer, humble, more respectful.

[pokemon]

Bull crap. I was kicked in the balls last night by a drunk driver to whom I was being nicer, more humble despite the verbal abuse, and completely respectful. So this idiot turned a MINOR traffic crime into a felony.

So myself, another officer and my supervisor insured taken into custody...­. he resisted after kicking me in the jimmy so he ate a little asphalt during our attempt to protect ourselves and detain him. I did not have enough room to Taser him or he would have rode the bull. We have video too, actually feel sorry for this guy... 1-5 for assault.

[mamacat]

I think that this policeman had the "misfortune" to be caught on tape behaving illegally and unethically. Myself, I think he has probably done many more things much worse than this, but this time he got caught. He is a rotten apple, and should be removed from the barrel - after due process, of course.

[beherenowbud]

Bikes are dangerous weapons of mass contusion.

[LeeCalif]

I watched this and this is what I thought.

The first bicyclist comes too close, too fast at the cop and SCARES HIM.

Well, he DOES NOT LIKE TO BE SCARED. Someone has to pay and since he can't look stupid and run after the original bicyclist who scared him, he'll get the next one.

And we see the results ..

[research]

Wow, I saw the cop lunge at the biker to push him off.

Watch it again.

[vagabondstory]

good... cops get away with too much.. how about the sean bell case.. exactly.
http://www.vagabondstory.com

[research]

Good!

Keep the Peace.

[pokemon]

Fail to obey a traffic officers signal, An arrestable offense. Just because you are on a bike does not mean you can disobey a signal, you only see him getting his arse knocked down. This is like idiots who drive around a road block because they are in a hurry, then wonder why the officer is pulling them over or upset (having almost been run over just 7 days ago..

"Why officer I never saw all the flashing lights, or the large blinking sign, or noticed the orange cones across the freeway... are you OK".

[tryharder2think]

You sound like you are justifying this cops action.

It was reprehensible.

NO EXCUSES for what that behavior, period.

[pokemon]

Moderate, but please post:

No, just saying that really you cannot take the whole context of the situation into mind because we were not there, and only see one view.

I understand everyone here being mad at us cops, I do not think any illegal action is right and should he be guilty then great, fire him. What I do not appreciate is the immediate and often volatile anger that is poured out towards police because some idiot got a ticket, or is mad because they believe we need to "find a criminal, not sit here giving me a ticket for speeding".

I have knives pulled on me (yes I kicked his ass), I have performed CPR on dying people (last week), seen children die (nightmares), people kill themselves (ditto), etc. All I want is one F$%^&*( person to sincerely acknowledge that we police are appreciated because we walk where you fear to tread, because all I ever here in these posts is bitching by people who more then likely deserved the ticket or ass whooping they got.

[Moshe]

This guy is a violent bully with a badge who took a cheap shot and got caught.

Likely not the first time he did it, jus the first time he got caught.

This violent creep with a badge is giving a bad rep to decent police, so the first to denounce and push him out should be those that wear that same badge.

But if they won't police their own ranks, they are sending a clear message they deserve the bad rep and no respect from the people they are suppossed to be protecting and serving.

The ball is in your court NYPD and the People are watching.

It is my great hope you will do the right thing and publicly denounce and bounce this clown from your ranks.

But if you don't, you shame yourselves and every police officer that has served the NYPD with honor.

There is no good reason to protect a bad cop.

[pokemon]

Your the type of person who talks themselves into a ticket.

[tryharder2think]

and you sound like d0uch3 b4g thug.

[Nooneyouknow]

Another of Ray Kelly's thugs goes on trial. Can somebody explain why he's still police commissioner? Is it because Bloomberg is in favor of police brutality?

[KPinSEA]

Critical Mass boneheads are only surpassed in their clumsy attempt to get themselves and their friends injured through lawless stupidity by the crew of nitwits on Whale Wars ..... and at least they do it thousands of miles from innocent bystanders.

[V4Vigilance]

Huh? You seem to have missed the point. This isn't a story about whether Critical Mass riders are boneheads, or not. This is a story about police abuse.

Watch the video and then read this passage from the police report:
"Long, 29, deliberately steered his bicycle into the officer, causing both of them to fall to the ground."

This was a serious dick move by this cop and he deserves to be charged and convicted. Also, whoever wrote the report should be charged with falsifying an official report, IMO.

[11907281]

Lawless stupidity? Please enlighten us Judge Judy, where was the lawlessness? You seem to have an issue with people who care about what kind of planet they leave their kids and themselves. I guess you support the Islamic extremist countries that you get your Hummer Juice from. Hamas thanks you.

[tryharder2think]

can I keep a d0uch3 b4g list?

if so - you win! you are on it!

[pokemon]

You have a small vocabulary­.. Using the same post, tisk tisk.

[LetMeUnderstandThis]

The day will come......­..........­..........­......Watc­h your back coppers!

[pokemon]

Oh please... do tell. I would love to have such a conversation one day, just remember I practice everyday.

[tryharder2think]

while you practicing everyday sounds nice - m4sturb4ti0n isn't that impressive, even monkeys can do it.. yeah - silly monkey.

[jojojo]

The cop looks like he's a scum...


but... I lived in NYC for 30 years, and the bicyclists are an awful menace to pedestrians. They go through red lights--wrong-way on one-way streets to boot--and plow through pedestrian-filled crosswalks. I was hit 4 times over the years by these idiots, and know many others with similar stories. it's the untold scandal about cyclists.

[LetMeUnderstandThis]

So what does that have to do with what the cop did?

[jojojo]

Not a thing. It's also a story about cyclists in NYC, painting them solely as victims. And they are also perpetrators. It's just another part of the story on cyclists in NY.

[jojojo]

Look above the headline. It references bikes bike culture, critical mass, etc. Critical mass has become horribly aggressive, disrupting traffic for hours in midtown. That's a crime. They beat on people's cars, break windows and threaten you if you dare yell out the window at them. They're bullies and punks.

And the cop was totally wrong. That doesn't make bike-riders' transgressions OK. Those transgressions are seldom reported. I though it appropriate to include them here.