Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Unbelievable. Infuriating.

Watch as a NYC cop shoves a cyclist off his bike during a Critical Mass ride (it's a 1 minute 10 sec. clip):



Of course before the video surfaced, the Officer signed a sworn statement that the cyclist intentionally ran his bike into the Officer.

The videotape has raised concerns about police Officer Patrick Pogan's sworn account that the bicyclist deliberately drove into him last Friday evening during a Critical Mass bicycle ride in Times Square, a source said.

After the videotape surfaced, the NYPD took away Pogan's badge and gun, temporarily placing him on desk duty. The Manhattan district attorney also announced that it was investigating the incident, WNBC-TV in New York reported.

I read the story here. Thank goodness someone was filming. It's becoming a frightening necessity I suppose.

2 comments:

Tribe Bly said...

I wonder if the cop behind him gave a statement backing up the other officer's claim. It seems like he was looking at the whole incident as it played out. If he lied, he should be disciplined as well.

Phillip Barron said...

yeah, pretty unbelievable, huh? not so much that the cop did this, but that someone (a tourist) was randomly filming at just the right time, and that person was willing to share the video with the bike community.

according to The Gothamist’s website, “The police officer in the video has been stripped of his badge and gun and the NYPD has placed the unidentified officer on desk duty pending the outcome of a department investigation.”