If technically Pogan did not assault because long did not suffer injuries fine.

He lied on the report, that is worse in my opinion, because the harm caused by going through the system on a false charge would have been much worse for Mr. Long.

But... what Pogan did could have killed or left Long paralyzed. It was a profoundly negligent way of doing "what he had to do to make that arrest."

I "would" talk about how sick and twisted Pat Lynch is, but with his usual senseless comments, he always beats me to it. What he basically wants is for his filthy thug cops to continue to get away with their "mistakes" (crimes) against NY'ers. Want to see what he says the next time someone shoots a cop by "mistake". The byproduct has been getting away with murders and all other sorts of crimes for far too long, and its something that needs to be taken to the whitehouse. For whatever the worth.

It took Pogan 10 days to become the kind of cop that usually takes 10 years on the job to achieve. Talk about a crash course!

I'm sorry that guy got tagged like that, but on the other hand, we need some serious regulations of bicyclists in the city. I was nearly hit by a bicyclist two nights ago on Lexington Avenue - he ran a red light, had no bell, lights or anything. When I say "nearly hit" I mean I felt the corner of his open jacket as he whizzed by, it was that close. It was damned scary and I know I would have been hospitalized.

Knock em off. I agree with cyclists rights on the street, but that means obeying laws just the same. It has to go both ways.

You hit me, I'm going to help you hit pavement.

you were "nearly hit"? any skillful rider knows how to keep their line and not to hit anyone. I'm almost sure the rider saw you.

how about all those pedestrians and cyclists who were actually hit and killed last week?

I think there were 4 in the last 2 weeks. Gothamist does a good job bringing these incidents up.

Agreed, this rider was clearly very skillful and actually intentionally rode past this commenter that close to scare him, not actually hit him! PS youre dumb

kazubes, PS: go get hit by a car, I hope to read about it next week. if not, then go eff yourself.

The problem is in the numbers...with an increased population of bicyclists comes the inevitable spike in riders who are less than "skillful" and ignore the basic rules of the road. Just this morning, I almost hit a rider who chose to speed through a red light...fortunately, both our brakes were working. I had to take a test to earn my driving license...maybe a biking test is in order.

The Pogans and their supporters continue to portray Long as some sort of miscreant when he's actually an Army veteran. It's amazing how they believe the "rights" of a badly behaving new cop take precedence over his victim.

Perhaps Pogan Jr should join the military.

The Army doesn't take convicted felons.

Actually, it does. Felony waivers are available, thanks to the dire recruiting situation caused by GWB starting two wars, one of which was unjustified. However, Pogan would still be out of luck. Among the offenses the Army considers "serious" and which automatically disqualifies a potential recruit is "altering, concealing, destroying, mutilating, obligation, or removing" public records. I suppose a conviction of falsifying a police report counts as that. Oops. Poor Pat.

Or the psychologically unstable.

We've been defending Christopher Long for two years, and now he says he doesn't believe the officer "intended to assault" him!?! Regardless of his thoughts, he was assaulted and could have been seriously injured. The officer's actions appear very intentional. The penalty should have been more severe.

maybe he was paid off like Goldstein or perhaps he is scared.

Maybe now you guys should realize he is a complete douchebag, undeserving of any defense. He went out of his way on the witness stand to blame "the man" and say Pogan was basically innocent.

Being a "douchebag" is no justification for being stiff-armed. If it was, half of the commenters on Gothamist had better watch their backs when they pass a cop. You may or may not be familiar with those three little letters on the side of NYPD police cruisers. Pogan was discourteous, unprofessional and disrespectful. What Long was is completely irrelevant, so long as he was not committing a crime. Which he apparently wasn't since the DA dropped all charges. Do you really think Pogan knew beforehand that Long was a pot addict? He could have just as easily tackled a surgeon doing the ride. He could have seriously hurt somebody. If you ask any reasonable person, Pogan is the one that is undeserving of any defense.

The way Pogan, Sr. so forcefully rationalizes his son's actions, I'm glad both of them are off the force. In fact, I would go back and look over dear, old dad's arrest record very closely after the way he talks. You have to be pretty suspicious about a "whatever it takes" attitude from a cop. Wonder how many people he framed in his career, how many confessions both real and false that he coerced.

it took him "seconds" to falsify reports and perjury himself to his superiors?

"My son had seconds to think about what he had to do to make that arrest."

Or your idiot son could have just let the bike go by him and this would be a non-issue.