Wednesday, July 30, 2008

More Two-Wheeled Politics

Word on the street is that the readers of TBC just can't get enough of the bike politics posts!

In case you missed it, check out this video of a New York City cop body slamming a Critical Mass rider off his bike into the curb. The cop then proceeded to arrest the rider for assaulting a police officer, etc., basing his arrest on a affidavit that the video shows is a pack of lies. Apparently there is a long history of conflict, legal and otherwise, between the Critical Mass folks and NYPD, but, to me, the hatred manifested by Officer Patrick Pogan when he shoved Christopher Long off his bike on to the sidewalk is hard to understand. My God, the man was riding a bike down the street! It's not a crime!

I'm sure that fans of the internal combustion engine are already raising money for Officer Pogan's defense, but, in the end, I expect that this outburst will wind up costing the City some money and, I hope, the cop his job.

3 comments:

David said...

I remember your stories about the Houston Police Department's violent arrests that ultimately result in no charges. "you can beat the rap, but you can't beat the ride"

Texan By Chance said...

But in those days HPD cops didn't have to worry that every other onlooker had a video camera in his pocket.

kateg said...

more meat!