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It was almost a year ago that a Times Square tourist happened to videotape a police officer's seemingly unprovoked assault on a cyclist during a Critical Mass group bike ride. The video, which depicts rookie cop Patrick Pogan slamming 30-year-old cyclist Christopher Long off his bike, sparked widespread outrage and ended up costing Pogan his job (getting caught filing a false police report didn't help his case, either). Long is now living in rural Wisconsin and working on a farm, but according to his lawyer, "There is psychological trauma, which explains why he is not living in New York City right now. It is a terrible experience for him to go through." So naturally he's suing the city, for $1.5 million, to help ease the pain.
Cyclist Who Was Body Slammed By Cop Sues For $1.5 Million
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Those Mariachi guys piss me off when you enter a mostly silent subway car.
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Please.
Hey asshole, that 1.5 million you're asking for will have some of my money in it. Lay off. You got the cop fired, be happy for that.
1.5 is not really an outrageous amount considering all the lying that was done. the DA, the ADA, the NYPD and what about the costs related into policing this event?
no one asks how much does that costs.
1.5M means a settlement of $600K. Let him have it.
why not sue the pig directly?
Because he wants to sue an entity that actually has money.
1.5 does seem like a palty sum; that's how freakin litigious our society is now. I'm gathering that the amount was decided upon in the hopes that the NYPD will settle, and, given the video and the false statements, it probably will.
"paltry", natch.
good call. it sucks that the NYPD can hire any jackass with a pulse and that we, as tax payers, must pay out when said jackass throws a thunderdome temper tantrum.
because cops don't have any money .
There's a part of me that gets pissed when people sue, but in this case, it's justified and at least, in comparison to to other lawsuits, for a small amount. He'll see 500K if he's lucky.
Maybe it will make the NYPD more careful and selective in who they hire...... LMAO J/K!
So, he came from New Jersey to show New Yorkers how their traffic patterns should be laid out, and then he left for Wisconsin. And got a good kid fired
Thanks, douchebag.
'got a good kid fired'
really? you sound like you are this 'kid's' father or something. the only thing you are correct about is that this 'cop' behaved like a child. nothing in this video or story makes this cop out to be a 'good kid'.
Maybe Angelheaded Hipster is Pogan, since he has been fired and has nothing better to do with his days than defend himself on the internet.
Right... the fired cop is a "good kid"....
[blockquote]"There is psychological trauma, which explains why he is not living in New York City right now. It is a terrible experience for him to go through."[/blockquote]
uh, wasn't this guy from Bloomfield, NJ?
this would be a fun flash game for time wasting.
"CYCLIST SLAM! You're Patty O'Furniture, a no-nonsense rookie in the NYPD -- New York's Finest! But one day, a bunch of smelly hippies on bikes descend on your fair Time Square. Now it's up to YOU to body slam them until the commish comes down on you. And knowing your department, that will take awhile! Feel the wrath of the Policeman's Elbow, nature-boy!"
While I'm on the cyclist's side, I like this game idea.
yeah, i probably should have mentioned that i'm anti-cop in this case.
although i'm also anti-getting-smashed-into-by-cyclists-running-red-lights, but i digress...
To be sure you have the entire market covered, that should another game.
Angelheaded Hipster: You have GOT to be kidding me. A "good kid" gets fired! This cop was an accident waiting to happen. I am incredibly happy he got fired... and no, he is not a good kid. Have you seen the video?
I mean I know you can't put a price on getting tackled by a cop...but city taxpayers fronting 1.5 million for a guy that doesn't know how to cope with getting marginally hurt by another human being is pretty outlandish.
he is not another human being... he is a cop. There is a huge difference with being tackled by some random person, and being tackled by a police officer, then getting a ticket, fraud, etc.
Maybe, just maybe, the problem is not with the lawsuit but with this behavior being unofficially acceptable. Maybe that is what you as a tax payer should be pissed about. No doubt the cop would still be employed if this was not caught on video.
I agree that the behavior is unacceptable. But put people in a position where they can abuse their power..politicians, soldiers, cops, whomever...and it's bound to happen. I don't necessarily think the NYPD are at fault, more so the individual. I would like to think that NY Cops aren't children that need to be taught by the NYPD on how to act like human beings but maybe I am wrong.
Kinda glad the cop decked him now.
He got knocked off a bike... on what planet does that entitle you to a handout? much less 1.5 million. That's ridiculous.
1.5 million for an unprovoked attack, wrongful imprisonment and a fraudulent police report? totally justified.
Are you some kind of an attorney, or do you just like to pretend on the internets?
Well, let's think about this. He fell off his bike. Incurred no lasting injuries.
( 0$ in damage, possible new paint job for bike... so let's say 200 bucks and I'm being nice ).
He went to jail wrongly, probably for less than a day.
( 0$, the police can and DO hold random people for nothing at all. Don't like that? Do something about it, but don't give cash to random people. )
Cop lied on a report.
( 0$, cop got fired. How does this entitle him to anything at all? )
I understand that what the cop did was wrong, and he's been sacked for it. What I don't understand is why anyone thinks this guy should get 1.5 million for a day of his time and a tumble off a bicycle. Maybe if he was bill gates this would make sense. But I highly doubt this guy can prove losses in the millions of dollars from his incarceration.
Perhaps it doesn't entitle the victim to this much of a handout, but it does entitle the NYPD to this much of a punishment. Those in charge would not be shown that this sort of behavior is not okay unless it hit them where they actually pay attention.
Petitions, protests, elections, and whatever "acceptable" forms of dissent wouldn't make anyone in charge take notice, but when a groundless attack and fraud by a boneheaded cop costs the city this large of a packet the rest of the cops are far more likely to get a memo reminding them to not be such twats.
Unless the $1.5M (or $500K, or whatever it turns out to be) is actually deducted from the NYPD salary pool, I'm skeptical that this "punishment" is going to have any impact, except on the city budget as a whole with tax dollars going out the door.
And how much do you think all those cops salaries, scooters, and cars to chase around bicyclists costs? How outlandish is that?
The issue is the NYPD doesn't teach it's employees to respect the general public. The NYPD teaches them to bully the general public.
It's the NYPD who should get their act together. That's 30-cops' salary for the idiotic actions of a single officer. That adds up, as most of the lawsuits you don't hear about.
If someone other than a cop did this, the person would be brought up on assault and battery charges.
add to that the fact that he sat in jail for a few days, had to fight to get the ticket removed, etc. etc. It's a lot more than "falling off his bike."
since it's a cop, the only real justice a guy can get is to sue the dept. it's their job to "serve & protect" and this is the penalty when they fuck that up.
Can we please reserve our anger for idiots like the drunk people that fall in the subway tracks and then sue the city and the MTA for having dared lay the tracks there?
All of you people who now hate this guy (who presumably all were very angry about the situation 1 year ago and completely supported him), what would you do if a dumb rookie cop knocked the shit out of you and falsified the arrest papers? You would really just walk away and thank the random tourist for having a video camera on hand and not do anything about it? This guy was falsely arrested by a corrupt cop and this is one of the few instances in which the city deserves to be held accountable.
We should be thankful this guy is not suing for $100 million and very pissed off that this will happen 100 more times in the next 3 years b/c the NYPD won't do anything about it.
I think they should institute a policy in which all of these lawsuits are settled with money from the NYPD pension fund. Since we taxpayers are stuck paying for their BS pension system no matter what, we might as well penalize them. I'm sick of the "few bad apples" argument, as this is a systemic problem and the entire organization needs to start being held accountable for acting like assholes rather than officers of the law.
Like the idea of pulling the settlement money out of cops pension fund.
Why can't more $$ be taken from the PBA or the pension fund?
The city should sub-contract the PBA to dispense salaries from the PBA. I'm sure the PBA would love to be in charge of the entire NYPD budget, but it could be arranged so that all cops are employees of the PBA, not the city, so when they screw up, the PBA gets sued, not the city.
Of course, even as I write this, I realize what a stupid idea it is.
These bullies go out every month and ride, en masse, into crowded intersections. Maybe some of you are familiar with Seventh Avenue there in Times Square? Its kind of crowded. Why should this conduct be tolerated?
but we should tolerate cop-on-civilian assault and subsequent cover up? the cyclist that was clothes-lined was hardly the "bully" in that scenario. there are appropriate ways for the police to arrest a law breaker, assaulting them is not one of them. the NYPD agrees, which is why he no longer has a job.
Louima got about 8 mil ---- this kickball sissy is getting 100 grand if he's lucky after his lawyer gets his
With Pogan's attitude, it would have been just a matter of time before he killed somebody without justification. It's just a good thing that he was caught and fired before any truly grievous injury happened.
So you're a psychic, too?
Why not? You obviously believe you are, since you can read Pat Pogan's mind and know he's a "good kid." Unless, as others speculated, you really are either Pogan or his father.
Now if somebody would just start suing all the cyclists who come whipping down the street the wrong way or on the sidewalks and being a menace to pedestrians.
What we REALLY need is malpractice insurance for cops. They have to pay a premium just like doctors, and then if they get sued for assaulting someone on the job, it comes out of the insurance. Once they've had an incident, they'd find it impossible to get insurance, and therefore be out of a job. Then we'd have a lot of security guards with real law enforcement training.
$10,000 for the shove, $1,490,000 for being a greedy little ratfuck.
If I were in his shoes, I'd sue for 5 mil, and if I got it, I'd donate it all to a non-profit group that represents civilians in NYPD abuse cases.
Who does that? But it would be funny if he got enough to get a great big shiny black SUV and ran over a cop. Naturally, there would be a small fine...
pretty much
Seriously, everyone who participates in Critical Mass is eligible to be shoved into a curb. I only lament that I wasn't there to shove some of them myself. :(
Remind me to pop you in the f*ckin' mouth if I ever see you.
Old-time hockey!
What a weiner.