Posted on 07/29/2008 9:36:14 AM PDT by heartwood
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 pedaled 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
You’re the one questioning the word assumption, so you may want to revisit your closest dictionary.
People are siding with the cop due to the perceived nature of the biker’s politics. Does that help your understanding of my comment? If you merely disagree with me, how about responding to that?
Re: Why?
Lolz. You’re killing me.
Yeah, I didn’t think you’d be able to come up with a reason.
RE: Yeah, I didn’t think you’d be able to come up with a reason
It’s been done to death in this thread. You are immune to reason. Enjoy that.
It was a joke.
I blew up the video and watched again. The cop heads for the curb. There is a 4 foot square metal grate or access in the street up against the curb which the bikers avoid. The cop closes the distance as the biker tries to squeeze between the cop and the metal object. The biker does move slightly back to the right but I see it as him trying to thread the needle. There isn’t very much space between him and the curb and it looks like there are a couple of other pedestrians in the street right beyond the metal object. He needed to clear them as well. I’m sure the cop saw it as an invasion of his personal space but all the bicyclist seemed to be doing was trying not to hit anybody or drive over the grate or metal cover on the ground.
Just looked at it again. From the moment the officer started moving he never stopped and never stopped looking up-street. He takes two oversized steps just as the biker enters the frame. The biker was in the gap 20-30 inches from the curb when the police officer took him off the bike. The cop had made his mind up before the biker ever enters the picture. We can’t see behind the camera at whatever the cop sees a few seconds before the biker enters but this was no instantaneous reaction to the biker leaning toward the cop. Not only could he have killed the guy but he could have hurt pedestrians along the street with that 20mph bicycle and 165lb hippy body. Bad, bad judgement.
Don’t really care much about the bikers as annoying lawbreakers but could throw down some spike strips or something. That would slow them down. Hell, they could just put some anti-bicycle technology on the streets to keep them off all together.
Whether you are in motor vehicle, on a horse or a bicycle you are mandated by law to be in control of your vehicle. You cannot operate the vehicle in reckless manner and force people out of your way, even if you are part of an illegal, anarchist "protest".
And what was the officer looking at? Can you prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he was looking at the cyclist? No, of course not.
According to your previous post Long was moving to the right of a 4 ft square grate now you say that he was 20-30 inches from the curb. Which is it?
btt
You can’t be serious.
I sure hope it’s not a nanny-law there. I’m probably moving back in September, and heaven help the city if it’s law that I wear a helmet.
I’ve never ridden a road/race bike and I’ve never worn the lycra that some riders wear. I’ll ride a mountain bike and wear regular clothing. Though I did read that special shorts are now being made without the inseam down the middle, to make riding more comfortable.
If you see a lone rider or two, with backpacks and tubes coming out of them, on mountain bikes, you don’t have to change streets, because odds are they’re not a problem.
The officers are in a CROSSWALK. Long is mandated by law to have control of his bike and to stop for anyone in the crosswalk.
The officers start walking toward the left curb before Long comes into the picture. Maybe Long was just going to be a smartass and just miss the officer, just intimidate "the man", but at the last second he turns directly into Pogan and the officer nails him with a block.
The goal of these jerks is to intimidate cops and citizens and provoke confrontation with authority.
Around here you only see those things in the Flatt Mountains west of Tallahassee.
***Cops shouldn’t have to place themselves at risk controlling a mob like Critical Mass: a good reason to issue machine guns to the PDs.***
I guess you have no problem with something like the Tiananmen Square Massacre happening on American soil.
***Are you sure? It looks like the bicyclist must have hit a patch of oil and was falling. The cop, doing his duty to protect and serve the citizens of New York City, was merely trying save the lives of innocent bystanders as well as that awkward bicyclist by trying to catch him before he hit the pavement or worse, the children in the crowd. Unfortunately, the unsafe speed at which the bicyclist was traveling caused both the negligent bicyclist and the kind officer to fall to the ground. Fortunately, the heroic efforts of the police officer saved many bystanders from serious injury. I’m pretty certain that fine outstanding public servant deserves a medal for his quick thinking and heroic actions!***
You’re a schmuck
If it wasn’t a Critical Mass ride, but myself and 9 other friends; we get assaulted by cops AND it hits YouTube, while the cops have no legal standing to have arrested any of us, AND I MENTION ON A THREAD THAT ONE OF THEM WAS ME, would you still have said what you did?
***I can’t believe we’re looking at the same video.
This cop is walking very slowly.
The bicyclist was going to hit him or clip him.
The bicyclist didn’t give him adequate berth at all.
I don’t have a problem with what the cop did.***
What I see is the cop lunging at the rider. I don’t know what you see, but that’s what I see. Sounds like the cop closed the distance pretty quick to knock the rider down.
And when people die of pierced hearts and lungs?
Yeah - taser a guy when he’s doing 20MPH, causing him to crash into a stroller, severely injuring a 6 month old baby.
Does that sound good to you?
Who would be at fault? The cyclist who momentarily has no control over his body, due to being tasered, or the cop who tasers the cyclist?
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