CRIME Police Officer Seen on YouTube Shoving Bicyclist Is Indicted

Dennis Olson

Dennis Olson

Chief Curmudgeon
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http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,467426,00.html

Police Officer Seen on YouTube Shoving Bicyclist Is Indicted
Tuesday, December 16, 2008

NEW YORK — A New York City police officer has been indicted after being caught on video knocking a bicyclist to the ground.

Lawyer Stuart London says Patrick Pogan must report to the Manhattan prosecutor's office on Tuesday morning.

Click here to watch the video on YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUkiyBVytRQ&feature=related

Cyclist Christopher Long was arrested in July during a Critical Mass ride through Times Square. The monthly bike rides are meant to draw attention to alternatives to motor vehicles.

Police said Long was obstructing traffic and deliberately steered his bicycle into an officer. Charges were dismissed.

A video of the body-check that knocked Long over was posted on YouTube and has been viewed more than 1.6 million times.

Pogan has been stripped of his badge and gun and been assigned to desk duty.
 
skoaldiak

skoaldiak

WWG1WGA
[snippet from article] - "Police said Long was obstructing traffic and deliberately steered his bicycle into an officer. Charges were dismissed."


Tis a pity to have to depend on video to clear your name against the police.
I'll bet if there were no video, Long would be behind bars right now.
 
blackjeep

blackjeep

The end times are here.
The video is very damning to the cop. The bicyclist was trying to avoid the cop who moved toward him to push him and cause a bad crash.

Whatever happened to "peace keepers"...??
 
4

4bears

Inactive
Indicted?

He's riding a desk and drawing his paycheck. Someone please wake me when he is fired and hopefully does some time in jail.
 
L

LXF71

Senior Member
The sad part is that there is a crystal clear video of the incident, proof positive and it takes this long for an charges.
 
SouthernGal

SouthernGal

"Don't retreat...reload"
Unfortunately, it is getting to the point where everyone needs to have a camcorder in their cars, to protect themselves from the "peace keepers". If it comes down to your word vs. their word - guess who loses?
 
Ravekid

Ravekid

Veteran Member
Warthog said:
Does anyone know what brought this on? Did the cop just do it for shits and giggles.
Click to expand...

No one knows, that is why it took so long to investigate. Despite LXF71's comments, there is no "crystal clear video of the incident." The problem was that there were mumblings about the bicyclist having done something out of range of any video and that the cop was stopping him. Rumors could have been running someone over, knocking another person off their bike, grabbing someone's property, etc.. I have to wonder if police officers were not behind these rumors on biking websites and blogs. I recall the video, the cop look pissed, so I believe the biker did something, but it might have been just yelling or something stupid. Whatever the biker did, it obviously was not enough to justify shoving him off his bike.

LXF71 said:
The sad part is that there is a crystal clear video of the incident, proof positive and it takes this long for an charges.
Click to expand...

There is no crystal clear video of incident. The incidents can start _off_ camera and move their way into view. For all we know, this guy had shoved another person, ran into a vehicle causing damage, etc. etc.. These rumors, possibly started by other officers, immediately begin to float around the internet. My guess is that they want to make sure this was an open and shut case, that the guy riding the bike was totally innocent before going forward with charges.
 
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