http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10001149-93.html
Discuss.
Kind of upsetting. I’m not going to bash all cops though. We all make mistakes, it happens they’re just in the position to get away with many things, but are also looked over quite closely. I’m just glad that most of the cops I have met are really nice and polite. I know I’d be doing some messed up stuff if I had to put up with some of the crap cops get, but they should consider that before applying I suppose, which is why I’m not, well one reason. You’ve also got to remember cops are human, some people seem to think they are robots meant to do one thing untouched by normal emotions.
my 2cents.
A;ready covered in Cyclists are a**holes thread.
Already covered in a**holes on bikes thread.
I agree that most cops are not like this. I’m more or less outraged at what this particular one did. He just lashed out at a random bicyclist for no apparent reason.
Ah, didn’t see that. But I think this incident needs it’s own thread anyway.
Yeah, but then again you don’t see anything leading up to that to far, at least in the video I saw. I don’t think I’m ‘outraged’ it’s upsetting though, if it happened to me I probably would be, but I can’t be bothered to get caught up in problems that aren’t mine for the most part. There are bad cops just like their are bad bosses, friends, fast food workers, janitors or anything else, good thing the number is small though or that is how it seems since they have huge responsibilities.
can anyone find a full article on this incident?
Gotta know both sides of the story before passing judgement. Maybe the biker was in the wrong just prior to the incident. Did he antagonize on onlooker? Was he wielding a weapon? From the cop’s sudden reaction, it looks to me that it’s a possibility.
Coverage from the left-wing liberal bordering on socialist, New York Times:
Officer Investigated in Toppling of Cyclist
By JAMES BARRON; Cara Buckley contributed reporting.
29 July 2008
The New York Times
Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company. All Rights Reserved.
A New York City police officer was stripped of his gun and badge on Monday after an amateur video surfaced on the Internet showing him pushing a bicyclist to the ground in Times Square during a group ride on Friday evening.
The cyclist, identified in court papers as Christopher Long, 29, was taking part in a monthly ride, called Critical Mass, that often draws hundreds of riders. In a criminal complaint against Mr. Long, the officer, identified in the court documents as Patrick Pogan of the Midtown South precinct, says that the cyclist rode straight into him. But the video, posted on YouTube and on the blog Gothamist.com, shows the officer lunging toward Mr. Long.
The police said the officer had been assigned to desk duty pending a Police Department investigation. The police did not give the officer’s name or age or say how long he had been with the department.
The monthly rides have been a source of tension for the police since shortly before the Republican National Convention in 2004, when a large number of officers arrested more than 250 riders on charges that included parading without a permit.
In 2006, a state judge turned down a request by the city to forbid an environmental group that promotes the monthly rides from taking part in them, from gathering at Union Square Park beforehand and from mentioning the rides on its Web site.
According to members of the group, Time’s Up, the video was taken by a tourist standing on the sidewalk. It shows bicycles streaming down Seventh Avenue at 46th Street, past two uniformed officers standing in the middle of the avenue. After a few seconds, one of the two walks quickly toward the east side of the avenue and into the original path of Mr. Long’s bicycle. Mr. Long appears to try to steer clear of the officer, but the officer then shoves him. Mr. Long crashes onto the curb, and people gather around him and the officer.
Officer Pogan arrested Mr. Long on charges of attempted assault, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, the court papers say. Mr. Long, who other cyclists said works in the Greenmarket in Union Square, was released without bail on Saturday.
In papers filed in Manhattan Criminal Court, Officer Pogan said Mr. Long was weaving in traffic, ‘‘forcing multiple vehicles to stop abruptly or change their direction’’ to avoid a collision. Officer Pogan also said he suffered cuts on his forearms as he fell to the ground.
Officer Pogan said Mr. Long had flailed his arms, kicked his legs and refused to put his hands behind his back. He also said Mr. Long had ‘‘twisted away’’ from him, ‘‘thereby making handcuffing difficult.’’
He said Mr. Long told him: ‘‘You are pawns in the game. I’m going to have your job.’’
The video clip ends soon after Mr. Long hit the ground. Witnesses challenged Officer Pogan’s account of the incident.
One cyclist, Craig Radhuber, 54, said he was a few feet behind Mr. Long, whom he said he did not know. He said Officer Pogan ‘‘body-slammed this kid off the bicycle so hard that he went from the lane to the curb.’’
‘‘I went over to yell at the police when another officer came and asked me to move back,’’ Mr. Radhuber said.
Mr. Radhuber said Mr. Long had not been weaving in traffic, as Officer Pogan alleged. ‘‘There was no traffic behind us – there was no traffic to weave in and out of,’’ Mr. Radhuber said. ‘‘The police officer looked to see who he was going to pick off.’’
Bill DiPaola, a director of Time’s Up, said he arrived just after Mr. Long went down. ‘‘He got up and was dazed,’’ he said, referring to Mr. Long. Then, referring to Officer Pogan and the other officer in the video, he said, ‘‘They put their knees on top of his head and were smashing him into a phone booth.’’
A lawyer for Mr. Long, Mark Taylor, said the cyclist had been ‘‘assaulted by the police.’’ He said Mr. Long, who was bruised but not hospitalized, was not available for interviews. ‘‘We believe the video speaks for itself,’’ he said, adding that he hoped the Manhattan district attorney’s office would drop the charges against Mr. Long.
Norman Siegel, a civil rights lawyer who represented Time’s Up in 2006, said he had been asked by its leaders to look at the video. He said it ‘‘shows unacceptable illegal behavior by this particular police officer.’’
‘‘Unfortunately, it’s another example of how the N.Y.P.D. has targeted without justification the Critical Mass bike riders,’’ he said.
Coverage from the right-wing conservative bordering on fascist, New York Post:
ROOKIE COP SLAMMED FOR CYCLE OF VIOLENCE
MURRAY WEISS, KATI CORNELL and KYLE MURPHY
29 July 2008
New York Post
© 2008 N.Y.P. Holdings, Inc. All rights reserved.
A rookie cop - the son of a highly respected New York City detective - has been stripped of his badge and gun after being caught on video viciously attacking a bicyclist who was part of a Times Square demonstration.
The startling YouTube video shows Officer Patrick Pogan, 22, apparently setting his sights on - and then tackling - a bicyclist as he peddled along Seventh Avenue as part of last Friday’s controversial Critical Mass ride.
Christopher Long, 29, was among a throng of riders as he whizzed toward the corner of West 46th Street at 9:30 p.m. and appeared to try and swerve away from the officer.
But the video shows Pogan pick up his pace as he stares down Long before shoving the cyclist, slamming him to the pavement.
To the dismay of stunned pedestrians, Long, who was not wearing a helmet, hurtles several feet through the air as he flips off the bicycle and lands on the curb.
Pogan and a second officer then lunge toward the prone cyclist as the video fades to black. The footage, filmed by a tourist and posted anonymously on YouTube, sparked immediate public outcry and prompted the NYPD to place Pogan on desk duty while the Internal Affairs Bureau investigates.
The NYPD declined to comment further.
What the video doesn’t show is Pogan arresting Long for attempted assault in the third degree, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct - charges that kept the Bloomfield, NJ, man behind bars for 26 hours before his release late Saturday.
Adding insult to injury, the criminal complaint drafted by Pogan bears little resemblance to what was witnessed by onlookers and recorded on video.
In court papers, Pogan accused Long of purposely swerving his bicycle to block traffic and then using it as a weapon to run down the officer, knocking him off his feet and causing a “laceration” on his forearm. “You are pawns in the game. I’m going to have your job,” Long told Pogan, as he flailed and kicked his arms and legs, according to the complaint.
Pogan has been on the force for just three weeks since graduating from the Police Academy on July 2 and is assigned to Midtown South.
A third-generation cop, Pogan lives at home with his father - Patrick Pogan Sr., a highly respected detective and biochemical and mass-destruction expert who is retired from the Joint Terrorism Task Force.
“He’s my son. I’m proud of him. He’s third-generation that’s been serving the city,” said Pogan Sr., who was at home in Massapequa Park, LI, yesterday and said he had not seen the video. “These people are taking over the streets and impeding the flow of traffic. Then you gotta do what you gotta do,” said Pogan, 51.
Long declined comment through his lawyer.
“If it wasn’t caught on video people would not have believed it,” said Christopher Ryan, who rides with Critical Mass and is filming the monthly protests for a documentary. “The video just shows what the cyclists have been saying all along, that the police are still harassing and intimidating them from doing group rides,” said Ryan. “An officer assaulted a cyclist for no reason. It’s just crazy.”
- Officer Patrick Pogan eyes bicyclist Christopher Long during a July 25 Critical Mass demonstration. 2) Pogan, on Seventh Avenue near West 46th Street, rushes Long’s left side and shoves the bicyclist. 3) The front wheel of Long’s bike pops up as the demonstrator goes airborne from the force of Pogan’s blow. 4) Horrified onlookers stare as Pogan and another officer stand over Long, who is prone on the sidewalk.
Bruce, I have to respectfully disagree that the reaction was sudden. I will not dispute that the bicyclist may have done something objectionable out of the view of the camera. But it does seem clear from the way the officers are looking up the street that they had singled him out with sufficient time to block his passage rather than shove him down.
When the police do not tell the truth it damages the credibility of legitimate and necessary law enforcement.
When Official Truth Collides With Cheap Digital Technology
By JIM DWYER
30 July 2008
The New York Times
Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company. All Rights Reserved.
Around 9:30 on Friday night, a bicyclist pedaling down Seventh Avenue veered to the left, trying to avoid hitting a police officer who was in the middle of the street.
But the officer, Patrick Pogan, took a few quick steps toward the biker, Christopher Long, braced himself and drove his upper body into Mr. Long.
Officer Pogan, an all-star football player in high school, hit Mr. Long as if he were a halfback running along the sidelines, and sent him flying.
As of Tuesday evening, a videotape of the encounter had been viewed about 400,000 times on YouTube. ‘‘I can’t explain why it happened,’’ Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said on Tuesday. ‘‘I have no understanding as to why that would happen.’’
But this episode was not just a powerful crash between one bicyclist and a police officer. It may turn out to be yet another head-on collision between false stories told by some police officers in criminal court cases and documentary evidence that directly contradicts them. And while in many instances the inaccurate stories have been tolerated by police superiors and prosecutors, Officer Pogan’s account is getting high-level scrutiny.
Later that night, Officer Pogan composed a story of his encounter with Mr. Long. It bore no resemblance to the events seen on the videotape. Based on the sworn complaint, Mr. Long was held for 26 hours on charges of attempted assault and disorderly conduct.
Over the weekend, though, the videotape, made by a tourist in Times Square with his family, fell into the hands of people involved with Critical Mass, the monthly bicycle rally that Mr. Long had been riding in.
The availability of cheap digital technology – video cameras, digital cameras, cellphone cameras – has ended a monopoly on the history of public gatherings that was limited to the official narratives, like the sworn documents created by police officers and prosecutors. The digital age has brought in free-range history.
Hundreds of cases against people arrested during the 2004 Republican National Convention collapsed under an avalanche of videotaped evidence that either completely contradicted police accounts, or raised significant questions about their reliability. The videotapes were made by people involved in the protests, bystanders, tourists and police officers.
At the New York Public Library, a small group holding a banner against one of the stone lions was arrested and charged with blocking traffic in the middle of 42nd Street, although video showed they were on the steps, and nowhere near the street.
In another case at the library, a police officer testified that he and three other officers had to carry one protester, Dennis Kyne, by his hands and feet down the library steps. Videotape showed that Mr. Kyne walked down the steps under his own power, and that the officer who testified against him had no role in his arrest. The charges were dismissed; the Manhattan district attorney’s office declined to bring perjury charges against the officer who gave the testimony.
Dozens of complaints were sworn by police officers who said they had witnessed people violating the law on Fulton Street and near Union Square, but later admitted under oath that their only involvement was to process the arrests, and that they had not actually seen the disorderly conduct that was charged.
An assistant to District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau wrote to the Police Department to stress the importance of officers’ not swearing to things they had not seen for themselves. The prosecutors said the confusion surrounding mass arrests made it hard to bring perjury charges.
The case of Christopher Long and Officer Pogan is shaping up as another example of an official narrative being directly challenged by videotape.
In a criminal court complaint, Officer Pogan wrote that Mr. Long deliberately attacked him with the bike – although the videotape shows Mr. Long veering away from Officer Pogan, who pursues him toward the curb.
The officer said he was knocked to the ground by Mr. Long. Throughout the tape, though, he remains on his feet, even after banging into Mr. Long.
The police officer wrote that Mr. Long had been ‘‘weaving’’ in and out of traffic, ‘‘thereby forcing multiple vehicles to stop abruptly or change their direction in order to avoid hitting’’ Mr. Long. However, in the videotape, it appears that there are no cars on the street.
Mr. Long is due back in court in early September. By then, most of Mr. Long’s bruises are likely to have healed. The prognosis for the truth is not so clear.
I agree that the move toward the cyclist is not sudden but rather deliberate and the officer was definitely singling out the cyclist. What was said or done, though, just before the officer “suddenly” reacted aggressively toward the cyclist?
If the officer was demanding that the cyclist stop, it is clear in the video that the cyclist had no intention of stopping. That situation could have justified the officer’s actions.
I’m not defending the police officer, just submitting that we may not have the whole story yet.
I didn’t read all the articles yet, but after looking at the video, it seems clear that the cops were not trying to stop the and detain the cyclist because he had done something wrong. There would be clear hand signals of “YOU! STOP!” accompanied by loud voice commands. When cops order you to do something, they are very clear. They would have pointed to the particular cyclist so he knows that he is the one they want to stop. The outstretched palm indicating “stop” would have been present. All this signaling could have happened very quickly (in the available time) but was complete absent.
This cop seems to be lashing out at Critical Mass in a way that would seriously mess up one rider’s life – charges of assault against a police officer, resisting arrest, etc. This goes far beyond the initial act of violence. If the court case goes the way the video seems to indicate, his career is thankfully over.
I doubt we will ever know the truth. It is common knowledge that humans will lie to get their point accross or save their own skins (Even at the sacrafice of others).
I agree with your theory. It’s what it appears to be happening to me as well, especially with the quotes from the cop that seem to be appearing. It’s like he’s trying to make excuses.
But, without the whole story, we don’t know.
I believe the cop should have lowered his shoulder a bit more and gone for the cyclist’s ribcage… use more body and less arms. The video showed more of a shove than a check.
Hey, when hockey season’s out, you gotta take what you can get, eh?
Hmm… compensating for a weak stance with arm strength. Good save, I guess, but it’s probably more of a timing issue overall. You can read about herding and checking bicyclists in the training manuals, but there really isn’t a proper substitute for simply using excessive force and exploring what works for you.
If all else fails, there’s always the billy club in the spokes technique.