Police Officer Assaults NY Critical Mass Biker

Jul 30, 2008 By Julia Posted in The Archives Tagged with Commute by Bike

In this stunning video, Officer Patrick Pogan of the NYPD violently shoves a cyclist off his bike for no apparent reason. What condemns the officer even more is his report of the incident:

From NY Daily News:

[Officer] Pogan said he saw Long weaving in and out of lanes and obstructing traffic before he ordered the cyclist to stop. The cop claimed Long deliberately drove his bike into him, sending both of them falling to the ground. Pogan claimed to have suffered cuts from the impact.

As you can see from this video, that is completely untrue.

[youtube bhxjxAMQXpY]

Smoking Gun report

0 thoughts on “Police Officer Assaults NY Critical Mass Biker”

johnnypebs says:

July 30, 2008 at 4:13 pm

While the cop appears to be nothing but a bully with a badge and deserves to be severely disciplined, if not fired, I find it very hard to muster up any sympathy for the critical mass-holes. They do nothing but make true cyclists look like anarchic douchebags to motorists and pedestrians.

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john t says:

July 30, 2008 at 4:14 pm

I would sue the pants out of the department. That knucklehead rookie officer would be out of a job.

That attack was totally unwarrented.

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S Carrico says:

July 30, 2008 at 4:20 pm

Looks like they had almost as much fun as Seattle did last weekend….

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Stahl says:

July 30, 2008 at 4:56 pm

Want to be disturbed? Check out the police forum where they are discussing this issue:

http://theerant.yuku.com/topic/7789/t/Video-shows-NYPD-cop-assaulting-cyclist.html

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Juan says:

July 30, 2008 at 5:08 pm

I agree with johnnypebs. I’ve been invited to quite a few Critical Mass rides and have always declined. I think it’s a great idea but with a very poor execution, that gives nothing but a bad name for cyclists who ride legally every day. That being said, I’m glad someone caught this on tape, and came forward with it….hopefully this thug will lose his job.

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Paul in Minneapolis says:

July 30, 2008 at 7:43 pm

Long before I ever rode in a critical mass ride, I logged over 6,000 miles of following the traffic laws. During that time I had hundreds of motorist try to hit me, and after, in front of the law, say they were going to kill me. Still I rode by the traffic laws, till I had a police chief terrorize me. This was documented by the state of Georgia.
Not long after, I moved to Minneapolis and rode in my very first critical mass. What I saw were cyclist being treated the same way, no mater how they rode, as the Minneapolis police assaulted peaceful people, some were not even cyclist. Today, with 14,000 miles, I ride to get the #$@* out away of motorists. With the US wars for oil, ethanol taking from food supply and the tail pipe exhaust destroying the earth; I don’t think much of motorist. When I say “our children are going to pay for our car-culture”, it is with meaning.
When I see motorist share the road, stop running lights and stop signs, driving a safe speed, yielding to pedestrians, passing safely and in passing zones, and signaling turns, I will change the way I ride.

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Paul in Minneapolis says:

July 30, 2008 at 8:09 pm

More about law. It has been over 20 years, but it will always be with me.

Two teenage boys walking on a road. A deputy on his way to work almost hit them, but rather than do his job and get the teens out of danger, left them and went to work.

when he got to the sheriff dept, he asked the dispatch where everyone was at, she replied two boys were killed. He laughed and said he almost he two, she siad they are dead, he laughed again.

I was the second vehical, there was nothing I could do, including what it meant to me.

Later I saw that deputy laugh about the nice 15 and 16 year old boys who I knew being dead.

Not all law are bad. Most that night were willing to take care of him.

This is just ONE reason I no longer drive. I would rather be another killed by motorist than be one.

Oh, that night, I was not speeding, or being careless. The first one who was already dead, it was me doing everything I could not to hit him when I hit the other…

I learned that 10’s of thousands are killed by motorist every year in the US that night. That is hundreds of thoudsands that motorist have killed in my life.

Critical mass are cyclist who want motorist to know that they don’t own the read and cyclists are many.

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Nick says:

July 30, 2008 at 8:49 pm

I have to agree with johnnypebs. The police officer should be disciplined or fired, but I don’t agree with Critical Mass rallies. We need the general public on-side…this sort of disruptive behaviour and disregard for the law only pisses people off.

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Stuart M. says:

July 30, 2008 at 10:34 pm

Wowww! Okay, I get it! I confess I have always been somewhat skeptical about reports of police brutality. Even though I have had some run-ins with bad cops, they never physically assaulted me like this gorilla (sorry, real gorillas) did to Mr. Long. Long is very lucky someone was filming at the right moment or he would just be another routine arrest printed on page 32 of the newspaper.

About the Critical Mass action I too don’t like it very much. Intentionally annoying people doesn’t get you many friends. I think it is good for bicycle riders to show strength in numbers, but they should do it legally. Bikers need all the friends they can get.

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Lesley says:

July 31, 2008 at 7:06 am

That cop forum is scary.

It’s a good thing i was raised to like and trust cops, else i’d read that forum and think they all hated me blindly and wished me nothing but harm.

I was most disturbed, however, with them applauding not only the cop, but suggesting even more traumatic methods of “stopping” a bicyclist.

Their hatred toward Critical Mass echoes a lot of cyclist’s hatred towards it as well. I wish they’d come over here and see that.

It was good to see some people over in the cop forum abjure the behavior of the cop, however. Even amidst all that rage, there are a few cops that wouldn’t want to hurt me just because I was on my bike.

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keith says:

July 31, 2008 at 7:58 am

It’s really sad. Almost as sad as that bear they had to shoot with the pickle jar on his head.

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Blue says:

July 31, 2008 at 10:27 am

I think I am going to buy a video camera for my bike now.

There are just way too many lying brutes out there.

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Adam Durand says:

July 31, 2008 at 10:46 am

Without this video to refute the cop’s story, I wonder if the cyclist would have seen jail time for assaulting the cop . . .

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Blue says:

July 31, 2008 at 10:49 am

Are we required by law to let police officers assault us (no “resisting arrest”)? I mean other than capturing on video what they do to you, there is nothing you can do right?

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Quinn says:

July 31, 2008 at 11:04 am

I too do Not agree with critical mass, however, I stick myself out there when I need motorist to realize that I (a bike) is a motor vehicle too, That action stems from having a police department that brutalizes cyclist, but rather blame EVERY incident involving a cyclist,.. On the cyclist.

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XchokeX says:

July 31, 2008 at 4:21 pm

BOOSH!

I support CM in general and since we can’t see what the cyclist was doing before he got it we can’t make a judgment based only on the video. All of the cyclists were bypassing stopped traffic, so who knows what else was going on. In my experience, cops are good guys in general and don’t mess with you unless you deserve it or appear to deserve it.

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mule1 says:

July 31, 2008 at 10:55 pm

I’m with johhnypebs. Critical mass rides just make us look bad.

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Robert says:

August 4, 2008 at 11:09 am

If not for the video, the cyclist would be facing charges, just like the many innocent people in jail right now.

It’s just a shame that so many people think cops are basically honest, when in fact, they are basically dishonest.

They are taught and trained to get convictions by carefully choosing words. They aren’t trained to tell the truth. Thats a fact.

Cops are good guys in general.. why do I say that? because, good people do horrible things, the problem is the system. They think they are doing the right thing by lying and circumventing safeguards and the judicial system. Thats what they’ve been taught and really believe.

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kvanmetter says:

August 5, 2008 at 3:04 am

This looks like an unprovoked attack to me, but I wonder what the officer saw coming toward him. Cops are legally allowed to do any number of things which would appear (and have appeared) to be felony assault under other circumstances.
Critical massholes, you need to realize you’re not making friends and influencing people. In my personal experience, too many massers are partying first, with little or no thought to what else might be happening. On one of the three Masses I’ve ridden, in Portland Oregon no less, the comments from motorists were really unpleasant, such as the passenger stating to the driver of an SUV, “Unless you hit them, they won’t stop.” It took a bike cop to really drive home the message though, as he pointed out that the most common refrain from motorists and pedestrians was, “What is this?” “What’s going on?” “Where are they going?”
I didn’t have a good answer, and the kids on funnybikes and topless lesbian couriers didn’t either. Nobody should be assaulted like that, but if you’re being stupid in traffic, don’t be surprised if someone gets upset.

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Tim says:

August 6, 2008 at 11:57 pm

I’m no fan of CM. I think they do bike commuters a big disservice. If you read any of the comments at the Police Rant forum, you’ll see that there is no love among those posters for bikers, whom they tend to judge based on the actions of the CM rides, and this incident certainly has not helped at all.
This video is shocking, but it’s also dangerous for what it doesn’t show. We don’t know what prompted the take-down. There is no way to know whether it was arbitrary or purposeful. Was there an infraction up the street, or was he minding his own business? The camera’s timing is significant in its turn toward the officer. Did the videoer suspect something was going to happen? If so, why?
The officer signed an affidavit saying he was knocked to the ground, but the video doesn’t conclusively show one way or the other. The affidavit does not indicate that there were any other charges filed against the rider except for what happened immediately in the collision, so there is question about the officer’s motive.
So, while all of the CMers are getting all fired up about police brutality, the cops are congratulating their brother on the style and technique of his take-down.
IMHO, the CMers are just inflaming an already tense situation. I’m sorry the biker was knocked down, and I’m sorry the cop got hit, but most of all, I’m sorry that some drivers (and cops, maybe) on my way to work are going to think about this video when they see me riding.

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US Citizen 07 says:

August 31, 2008 at 6:48 pm

I’m a member of grassroots/netroots and just received this……

http://www.grassrootsnetroots.org/articles/article_14423.cfm

August 30, 2008 — Today, for the first time in my life, I had guns pointed at me. One of the police officers told me over a loud-speaker: “Get out of the line of fire or we will shoot!” I can’t believe the cops said they’d shoot me! In Minneapolis!

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Yeun says:

July 30, 2013 at 9:55 pm

@Tim – so true. My sentiments exactly. There are two sides to this story, and it’s best to hear all of it, though – in fairness, the NYPD are notorious for “OTT” take-downs.

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Police Officer Assaults NY Critical Mass Biker

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