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jasoncala... jasoncala...
 
M$1 December 16, 2008 02:30 AM

Officer who knocks bicycle rider off bike indicted with YouTube video--have you seen this? Thoughts?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUkiyBVytRQ



More from the NYT City Room blog:
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/15/officer-to-be-indicted-in-toppling-of-cyclist/

"A police officer who was caught knocking a man off his bicycle in Times Square over the summer in a video that was distributed widely on YouTube has been indicted by a grand jury, according to lawyers involved in the case."
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jonceramic jonceramic
 
 December 16, 2008 04:03 AM
Smoking gun's post of this incident this summer gets to the crux of the issue when you read the police officer's account. He claimed:
"Deponent further states that upon instructing the defendant to cease the above-described conduct, the defendant steered the defendant's bicycle in the direction of the deponent and drove defendant's bicycle directly into deponent's body, causing deponent to fall to the ground and causing deponent to suffer lacerations on deponent's forearms."

Clearly, the "deponent" (the cop), was not struck and hit. Instead, he rammed and shoved the bicyclist. So, not only did he knock the bicyclist over, on purpose. But, on his arrest deposition, he lied about what happened.

Clearly, in the video, this cop singled out this one bicyclist for shoving down. And then lied. If not an arrest, he at least deserves to be fired for lying on an official police report.
Source(s):
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2008/0729081bike1.html

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gmporter87 gmporter87
 
December 16, 2008 02:40 AM
Looks like he quite obviously pushed the bicyclist intentionally. Probably his only hope for defending himself will be saying that the bicyclist fell into him and he only acted to protect himself.

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googamooga googamooga
 
December 16, 2008 02:42 AM
This is the first time I saw this, my thought is that the police officer let his frustration get the best of him. The way he moves to intercept the rider makes it look as though he singled him out. Did the rider provoke the cop? Not that, that would be any excuse to shove him like he did.

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crindi crindi
 
December 16, 2008 02:47 AM
I think that officer needs some anger management training. He probably isn't the sharpest tool in the shed either, as he should have recognized that he was in public and many many people would witness an act of aggression and testify against him if it went to court.
The use of public videos in court is a whole other conversation, invoking memories of the Rodney King beatings caught on camera.

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aaron805 aaron805
 
December 16, 2008 02:59 AM
The Event was a Critical Mass Bike Event. NYPD is notorious for the millions they spent to try to end these things. They have done mass arrests, both docile and violent to try to deterr people from participating. I am sure this is just one of the many injuries caused.
Source(s):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_Mass#Conflicts_involving_Critical_Mas...


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sgtoox sgtoox
 
December 16, 2008 03:08 AM
I think it is funny he certainly isn't the first to be prosecuted because of a youtube video. I think the internet is playing a bigger and bigger role in politics,economy, and the direction the world is headed. IT can be a good thing because it gives all the little people a voice. It can also be a bad thing since many of the "people" use this freedom to just say stupid hateful things (take one look at youtube comments)

the cop got what he deserved, he will serve as an example to other that you can't just abuse your authority because people have power too
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my thoughts


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garrettjax... garrettjax...
 
December 16, 2008 03:16 AM
As an avid cyclist who has been menaced by law enforcement and drivers I sympathized with the rider in this video when I watched it a few weeks ago. It definitely seems like the officer went way over the line when he knocked the rider off his bike. I don't have much of a reaction to his indictment because that is still a long way from a conviction. I hope he is convicted for the abusive actions he took but I don't think he deserves to have his life ruined or be made an example of.

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shibbyman2... shibbyman2...
 
December 16, 2008 03:23 AM
It looks like Lance Armstrong meets Rodney King.

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nicktr nicktr
 
December 16, 2008 03:31 AM
The cop is guilty of assault IMHO. The video tape clearly shows he made an aggressive charge towards the cyclist, who was trying to avoid the officer.
Even if the cyclist was riding a bit quickly, its no excuse for the officer's behaviour. The policeman should lose his badge at best.
Police should never abuse their power, this is a perfect example of that.

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todd durko todd durko
 
December 16, 2008 03:31 AM
The officer clearly had a reason why he did this. We live in a 15 second video clip world. Perhaps the person wasn't suppose to be riding their bike there or why he pointed that person out was more than likely due to the person running their mouth. Clearly the bicyclist has not heard the term "you mess with the bull you get the horns."

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adamkap adamkap
 
December 16, 2008 04:00 AM
I'm glad to see that the officer is being indicted due to the clip. It's rather obvious he decided to do something, and the biker is obviously trying to get out of the way.

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kenford kenford
 
December 16, 2008 04:36 AM
HERE ARE A FEW POINT OF VIEWS------------

1.They probably werent supposed to be doing that. All the other bikes were avoiding him. But maybe the cop was just pissed.

2. This is what happened. The traffic light turned to red to allow pedestrians to cross. All cars have stopped, but the cyclists continued to cross the intersection. Evidently, these bicycle ridders believe that traffic lights don't apply to them or that they are above the law. I am an avid cyclist and I think the action of the policeman was justfified. If you use a street, regardless of what vehicle you are ridding, you must obey traffic rules.

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