Cop Stripped Of Badge After Assaulting Bike Rider

[Popol Vuh]

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.

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 imme diate public outcry and prompted the NYPD to place Pogan on desk duty while the Internal Affairs Bureau investigates.

The NYPD declined to comment further.


http://www.nypost.com/seven/07272008/news/regionalnews/cop_shoves_bicyclist_121984.htm

((the video)) >> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUkiyBVytRQ

[Sequoia]

1. Ha, ha...that should happen to more mean cops.

But then...there goes the police force.

[spanone]

2. good, i just saw the video of that lying cop. said the biker tried to run him down

he deliberately pushed the biker over

[JohnyCanuck]

3. Good!

[Bonobo]

4. We all need cameras to protect ourselves.

The biker, I read, was held in prison for 26 hours.

Even though it was witnessed by another policeman and about 100 others, he was charged with assault on a police officer.

Dirty, lying cops. That's what the two of them are.

[liberalitch]

8. He clearly trying to avoid the cop.....

...I could even say that I one point he is even trying to put his foot down on the ground.
Makes the job of good cops so much harder.

[Popol Vuh]

19. I like the idea of

this group who call themselves "Cop Watch". Sad that we should need such groups.

n/t

[DCKit]

40. Yummy, and a false arrest charge to boot.

And if Long doesn't sue huge, he's an idiot.

Maybe, once they've been hurt enough financially, cities will begin requiring better hiring practices for cops.

To those promoting a slight undercurrent of "he deserved it for taking part in a protest which inconvenienced the SUV commuters":

Give the bike riders the safe commute routes they've been asking for. Personally, I think motorized vehicle traffic should be banned from Manhattan - at least the center.

[cloudbase]

5. That should make daddy proud.

Of course, perhaps he learned the wrong lessons from the old man.

[tblue37]

34. The article quotes his daddy as saying how proud he is of his son,

and that those bikers "impede traffic" so the cops have got to do what they have got to do. Obviously the cop learned his tactics at his father's knee.

[Greyhound]

6. All too rare. We must begin to "de-Gatesify" our police forces. The militarism,

and escalation of violence by the PDs has ruined the profession and placed LEOs in greater danger as neither the criminals nor the public view them as trustworthy. Cops are, or should be a part of the community, not an insular gang of thugs.

[Lance_Boyle]

7. That cop sucks, and should be removed from the force.

But seriously, Critical Mass needs to secure parade permits for their coordinated traffic-blocking stunts. It's one thing to commute by bicycle. It's quite another thing to organize these rallies for the specific purpose of shutting down traffic to non-bicyclists. Bunch of holier-than-thou jackasses, who nevertheless do not deserve to be tackled off their bikes. Often.

[book_worm]

10. I agree. They were in the wrong, but certainly the cop was the worse of the bunch.

[Lance_Boyle]

12. I don't know that CM is legally 'in the wrong' or not

These rallies are organized for the specific purpose of shutting down traffic to non-bicyclists. Whether a parade permit is legally required for this type of event in NYC, I don't know. But it should be. CM is definitely a super-assholish group. Still, not deserving of police brutality.

[Radical Activist]

20. Sure. They should follow all the rules and never upset anyone.

A lot of important change has happened that way. :eyes:

[Lance_Boyle]

21. what "important change" does CM seek?

They seek attention, like all other attention whores. But they do it in a positively obnoxious manner that curtails the rights of every non-bicyclist to use the roads they select for their rolling blockades. CM is not a revolution - CM is a messy speed bump waiting to happen.

[tkmorris]

22. EXACTLY RIGHT!

The Critical Mass events are perhaps not terribly convenient to motorists who encounter them unexpectedly, but there is a reason these bike riders do this. Bicyclists are routinely, and dangerously, treated as if they have no right to be on the road, while at the same time it is (rightfully so) illegal for them to be on the sidewalks. Really, they just want to be treated with the same respect that others are, and these rides are a method of drawing attention to that end.

With gas costing what it does, bicyclists are only going to increase in number. These issues need to be addressed.

[Lance_Boyle]

27. CM "events" are nothing but provocation stunts.

They give lawful cyclists a bad name, and encourage lawless behavior among attendees. Perhaps the organizers need to face severe penalties for parading without permits, or some other offense reflecting the antisocial brattishness of their rolling roadblocks. Or maybe the cops need shoulderpads...

[dysfunctional press]

29. when i see bicyclists obeying stop signs- on side streets especially- i'll agree.

which basically means never.

[tkmorris]

35. You DO see bicyclists obeying stop signs

The majority of us do. Do you see some who don't? Sure you do, just as we see some motorists who don't either.

It isn't an either/or situation. Bicyclists and motorists can coexist, but we have to start listening to each other instead of simply labeling the other side and ignoring their complaints. For starters, I will admit that cyclists who intentionally block the road specifically to annoy motorists are part of the problem.

[dysfunctional press]

38. not around here.

i've even had a guy on a bike give me the finger because i didn't yield my right-of-way to him when he felt he shouldn't be bothered to stop at a 4-way stop sign. i used to live on a side street in chicago, with a stop sign at the corner, and in 11 years, i never once saw a single bicycle stop for that sign. it was also a one-way street- but that didn't matter to the bike-riders who wanted to go the other way, either.

[deadmessengers]

45. If you think bikes are treated with disrespect...

...try being a pedestrian on a mixed-use trail. Seriously. There is one such trail (the Silver Comet rails-to-trails project) near where I live, and the bad behavior I see from the spandex crowd there puts anything that Critical Mass complains about to shame. I've seen at least 4 incidents involving spandex-clad Lance Armstrong wannabes and pedestrians, at least two of which ended with a pedestrian making a trip to the hospital.

One more beef I have with bikers - if you're not on a closed track, there is absolutely no reason whatsoever for a fixed-gear bicycle. They are ridiculously dangerous, and they need to be banned immediately. Two of the four accidents I saw involved assholes riding fixed-gear bikes who couldn't stop in a reasonable distance.

[gratuitous]

26. Bicycles are traffic, too

Certainly when there's a traffic jam of motor vehicles, nobody says they need a parade permit, and it takes far fewer cars and trucks to shut down traffic than it does bicycles. It also takes a lot longer to untangle a traffic mess of motor vehicles than it does a group of bicyclists. And if a bicycle has a mechanical failure (say, on a bridge or in the middle of a busy intersection), it doesn't tie up traffic for miles around and hours on end.

I'd be interested to see how a law could be written that would outlaw "coordinated traffic-blocking stunts" by bicycles that wouldn't impact motor vehicles as well.

Our society is so conditioned to motor vehicles as the sine qua non of personal transportation that so many people can't envision any other way of getting around, even when those alternative means are cleaner, cheaper and depending on circumstances faster than an automobile.

[book_worm]

9. They showed that on CBS Morning Program and even the anchors were startled by the brutality

[wicket]

11. Check out the response from his father:

"These people are taking over the streets and impeding the flow of traffic. Then you gotta do what you gotta do," said Pogan, 51.

WOW.

[hatrack]

14. They ARE the traffic.

Asshole.

[Kolesar]

36. I wouldn't feel bad if the cyclist gets a huge award in a settlement

Create a financial hardship for the whole family. No dreamy vacations or new cars for the Pogan clan.

[BlooInBloo]

13. One down, 2 jillion to go.

[ProfessorGAC]

15. Quit Exaggerating!

It's only 1.7 jillion to go.
The Professor

[BlooInBloo]

16. 12 BRAZILLION!!!!

I win.

:P

[ProfessorGAC]

18. How Many Zeroes. . .

. . .well you know the rest.
The Professor

[Catherine Vincent]

17. I wonder what he was telling the other cop before he did what he did.

Lying Jerk!

[ColbertWatcher]

23. Anyone wanna bet he gets a job with Blackwater? n/t

[barbtries]

24. the cop should be charged with a felony

he could have killed that guy. i was shocked when i saw it because his movements seemed to come out of the blue and were so violent and unprovoked. at least he's off the street and hopefully his career (which i understand from another thread was all of a month old) as a police officer is over.

[tinrobot]

25. That video sums it up - cyclists get no respect.

It would be nice to at least have the cops behind you... rather than on top of you.

[Lance_Boyle]

28. give none, get none.

respect, that is. You think CM rallies are about "respect?" Bullshit. It's an organized tantrum by a bunch of self-important whiners.

[scheming daemons]

31. Exactly..CM rallies are meant to provoke..this one did..the young cop didn't resist the provocation

...and he showed he's not capable of being a cop.


A good cop has to resist the urge to pummel.... even members of anarchist groups that sometimes deserve a little pummeling.

[High Plains]

33. Grind your ax all your want.

This is about an unprovoked assault on a cyclist by a police officer.

[Kolesar]

37. I'll bet you're palsied...eom

[IDemo]

43. There is a huge difference between not respecting and assaulting

Regardless of whether the CM'ers were disrespecting other motorists or the police, that doesn't give the police the right to express their mutual disrespect via physical assault.

[Marr]

47. Wow- well I certainly hope you aren't surrounded by people like yourself if

you're ever assaulted by some nut-job cop.

[book_worm]

30. I'm a walker not a cyclist but I see too many cyclist who don't obey the rules

for instance not wearing a helmet and not stopping like other vehicles on the street for lights. If you're going to be on the road you have to follow the same rules and a car can't just run a red light if he doesn't see another car coming. I also see a lot of bicyclists who don't use hand signals to indicate turns, etc. Don't get me wrong a lot of drivers could be more respectful too, but it's a two way street.

[dysfunctional press]

32. and when it's NOT a two-way street, you're sure to see bicyclists going the wrong way.

[AmyDeLune]

39. ...not to mention the cyclists on the sidewalk...

I don't mind sharing, but I absolutely hate it when a cyclist zips up behind me on the sidewalk, often missing me by inches, and then turns and gives me a dirty look for being in their way. Most cyclists will give a verbal heads up warning, but quite a few treat the sidewalk as their own personal bike path with no consideration for others. It's not like I have the option of walking in the street to get out of the way of the cyclists. :(

[tinrobot]

41. I guess cyclists don't get respect on DU, either.

Frankly, I'm a little shocked at the comments to my post.

You'd think a discussion board full of liberals would be more sympathetic to people on bicycles.

[Fumesucker]

42. Not liberals, Democrats..

Two entirely different sets of people that don't overlap all that much.

At least judging by what I've seen here lately.

[fishwax]

44. glad there was somebody recording that

:wtf:

[Marr]

46. Well, on the bright side...

it was only this moronic meat head's third week on the force. Imagine what he might've done if he'd been allowed to make a career out of being an oversized playground bully.

[ljm2002]

48. After reading some of the replies here...

...all I can say is, I am disgusted that fellow DUers would use an incident of police brutality against a cyclist as a platform from which to spew their hatred of bicyclists in general and Critical Mass in particular.

Critical Mass has been going on for a long time. And cars really are an issue in urban areas. Unfortunately, the powers that be want us to believe that bicycles are an issue, but cars are not. And meanwhile the planet is gasping. Yes, this is the perfect incident to use to spout anti-Critical Mass talking points. Yep. You betcha.

Critical Mass has certain aims, specifically, to allow safe roadways for bikes. Yet it seems that change is not wanted by a certain element of society, who want to insist that everything is just fine the way it is in this best of all possible worlds / countries. I suppose that all demonstrators are just attention whores to this lot. Yes, that's the ticket: anyone who demonstrates, anyone who "breaks the law" (i.e. who doesn't follow all of the tens of thousands of nit picking rules that are laid down just to keep us all from breathing without checking that it's still legal to live) is an egotistical asshole.

Seriously, just listen to yourselves. You'd be right at home in Redneckville, USA, talkin' 'bout them thar Aye-rabs with their damn tur-bins. Never did see one that obeyed a traffic light, an' they all wanna marry our daughters -- yer darn tootin'!

Sorry if this rant insults anyone. Well, actually, no I'm not. The only people who would be insulted are those who see themselves in it, and they are just the ones I'm disgusted with.

[wicket]

49. Well said

:thumbsup: