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Environmental group Times Up! is taking advantage of all the publicity generated by the video of a cop shoving a cyclist off his bike by reminding everyone that this is hardly the first such incident, nor the only one caught on video. The group points out that in 2007 one Richard Vazquez was taken down by a cop in Times Square during a Critical Mass ride, and in 2006 Adrienne Wheeler, a Critical Mass legal observer, was pulled off her bike by then-NYPD-Assistant-Chief Bruce Smolka, who's since retired. (The city settled with Wheeler for $37,000.) In a statement, Times Up! asserts that, “Unfortunately the July 25, 2008 incident is part of a pattern of targeting Critical Mass bike riders.” What's also unfortunate is that the production values on these old videos fail to live up to the new gold standard for police brutality porn.
Previously on Cops Vs. Cyclists…
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I think many of us knew this was going on but lack the power and political will to effect any change. I hope Officer Pogon is just a kick start in taking on the NYPD.
Until Critical Mass obeys traffic laws, stops at red lights, and rides with traffic, I will have no sympathy for police trying to enforce the rules of the road.
When the NYPD steps out of bounds by making false arrests, filing false reports and making false statements, that's when I cry foul.
So, to be clear, your crying "foul" over the false police report filed by P.O. Pogan?
You can't participate in guerilla warfare and then expect the police to play by the rules.
what does the NYPD hate United States Of America Veterans?
Right, people riding bicycles = guerilla warfare.
to paraphrase "idiot" above: Until automobile drivers obey traffic laws, stop at red lights (instead of the 3-second "rolling" rule), stop intimidating pedestrians at crosswalks, stay out of bicycle lanes, and stop double parking, I will have little respect for the police who fail to enforce the motorized vehicular rules of the road.
Don't forget the jaywalkers (for the best example, see any corner/intersection that as a left or right turn light -- like for example Canal and Centre), the douches that stand like 6 feet from the curb (which affects both cyclists and drivers), the assholes who walk in a group 5 people wide, etc etc etc.
"Right, people riding bicycles = guerilla warfare."
Critical Mass is more than just people riding bicycles. They takeover an avenue and have no respect for the rules of the road. They won't even stop for pedestrians. They put themselves and others in dangerous situations. It is indeed guerilla warfare.
Didn't look like it was all that dangerous in the video, at least before Pogan sacked the cyclist. People just stood by and watched, hardly an extremely perilous situation.
"It is indeed guerilla warfare."
That's cool, Gothampc. What do you call actual guerrilla warfare? Intergalactic nuclear apocalyptic hell time?
Silly panda.
@8
Tell some of the veterans in Walter Reed who came back from Iraq that bicyclists taking over an avenue(oh noes!!!) and *boo hoo* won't stop for pedestrians is guerrilla warfare.
You must be a troll since nobody is that big of a numskull.
Beating people up and then lying about it is standard police procedure, but I believe the special treatment accorded to Critical Mass is coming down from the top. At most, however, Pogon and whoever signed off on his false report will be made the fall guys, if the police department can't worm out of this situation some other way. I wonder if a civil suit could discover the real perpetrators. Who told Pogon it was all right to hammer Critical Massers?
there are over 200 security camera's in times square, and it takes the posting of a video shot by a tourist to get down to the nitty gritty? i find it humorous that this so called police officer's story held up for as long as it did (pre-posting of the video). apparently he was stripped of his badge and gun (thank God), which is a miracle in itself, God only knows what this man (assuming you can call him this, most men don't sucker punch) can do with a gun and a bad day, but that is not enough, he need's to pay for his crime. His crime being police brutality...and stupidity to think noone was watching.....i mean for crying out loud, he was in times square!!!!
drewo and The Edge: amen to that! Just today I had several pedestrians scream profanities at me as I rode by them when THEY were standing out in the road when I had the right of way. Hey dumbasses, the sidewalk is behind you! I'm not swerving out into traffic just because you're too stupid to get out of my way.
Wow, only 13 posts? This story is so over.
One cyclist is thankfully taken down and it's a big deal, but the 500 pedestrians hit by cyclists per year get nothing.
I wish we could all do to the next red light running two wheeled idiot what that cop did.
Please. 500 pedestrians? Did you just pull that number out of your ass?
Also, what about the many pedestrians and cyclists that are KILLED each year by motorists? WTF, dude?
and how about the countless pedestrians who walk out into the street into the path of cyclists?
quit being melodramatic and making up statistics.
"More than 10,000 pedestrians are injured each year on the city's streets, and 170 were killed in 2006."
how many of those do you think were caused by bikes? try directing your hostility where it is actually warranted.
People like Murgus think it's all right to be run over by a big, expensive machine. That's normal. But being run over by a small, inexpensive machine -- that, they resent.
It's just a kind of class prejudice. Not that there aren't plenty of a******s on bikes, is just hard to kill someone with one. I think the average is about 1 per year.
Considering there are a lot more cars than bikes on the road at any one time, the number of accidents - and near accidents - perpetrated by cyclists are well out of proportion to their number.
I know a LOT more people hit by bikes than by cars.
Notice the cyclists on Gothamist, besides whining about cars, also whine about pedestrians. In other words, they are complaining about people who walk. People!
So, when cyclists dismount they become the very people they complain about.
thefacts: the difference is, when I get off my bike I have the common sense to NOT walk out into streets without looking -- which is what a lot of pedestrians do that often causes them to get hit by bikes.
Yes, I know that some cyclists do not give the right of way to pedestrians when they have the light -- and that is totally wrong of them -- but I've been riding in this city for 10 years, and every day I have to suddenly swerve to avoid a pedestrian who's stepped out from between two cars in order to jaywalk when he or she does NOT have the light.
i don't like most cyclists, but in the hierarchy of things to get angry about, police brutality is way higher than a-holes on bicycles.
i'm always amazed that some people think bicycles are more of a concern than police brutality.
are these people wannabe cops or are they just too obese to ride a bicycle?
Drivers are much more likely to obey the rules than bikers, though of course they cause more damage when they don't. Critical Asshat events should be the one time that NYPD is allowed to wear ski masks.
"You can't participate in guerilla warfare and then expect the police to play by the rules."
Actually you CAN expect the police to play by the rules.
You should INSIST that police play by the rules.
Let's not forget that these people are suppossed to be public servants.
Hey Jen, check it out. Some NRDC blog crediting Gothamist as being the first to report that the Critical Ass biker was arrested and charged with assault:
http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/sdodd/whats_with_all_the_bike_hate.html
You guys are like real journalists!
Considering there are a lot more cars than bikes on the road at any one time, the number of accidents - and near accidents - perpetrated by cyclists are well out of proportion to their number.
@ thefacts: try to back that claim up with actual facts.
Here's something most people aren't considering..
I would expect a disproportionate number of cycle/pedestrian accidents as cyclists are encouraged to use space closer to the sides of the road (i.e. closer to pedestrians)
If cyclists were encouraged/allowed to ride down the middle of the street, there would be a lot less collisions with people walking out from between cars, edging into the crosswalk before the light turns, etc.
I'm a biker myself and am all for biker's rights on the road, but these critical mass douchebags make me want to rent a car and drive through their parade.
Silly self-important cyclists talking about how pedestrians and cars don't follow traffic rules (ooh...jaywalkers) and I can't tell you the last time that I've seen a biker stop at a red light or use hand signals.
"Drivers are much more likely to obey the rules than bikers, "
No, they obey different and break different rules. Cyclists are far more likely to run red lights, for example, but cars are far more likely to break the speed limit. I know it's hard for bikes to go 30mph but my point is that a large majority of car drivers break the law every single day through speeding. But since most of the haters on this group and in NYC drive, they think that's acceptable.
Maybe speeding is OK and maybe it's not OK (it probably depends on the circumstances) but the claim that cyclists break the law way more than drivers is baloney. Look around.
Where I live it's pretty hard to exceed 30 MPH most of the day. But every single corner has a red light that almost none of the bikers pay attention to. So it depends on where you look.
"Until Critical Mass obeys traffic laws, stops at red lights, and rides with traffic, I will have no sympathy for police trying to enforce the rules of the road."
This is a ridiculous statement. Since when is brute force needed to ticket someone for going through a red light (if that's what this guy did).
And if a driver goes through a red light a cop can ram him/her with their vehicle?
I hope the bicyclist was not injured and is doing well.
As we all know, a police officer's job is to protect and to serve. I'm curious to hear the officer answer these questions: Does your job description include: 'attack a citizen?' Why did you assault the bicyclist and why did you use excessive force?
The NYPD has jeopardized the public's safety by not identifying emotionally unstable and immature officers; such officers should be kept in jobs like sweeping out the station.