Ex-Officer in Bicyclist-Shoving Case Says He Was Trying to Avoid Collision

Source: The New York Times

Ever since a videotape of a police officer knocking a man off of his bicycle in Times Square surfaced on the Internet two years ago, people have asked the same question: What was the officer thinking? The cyclist did appear, after all, to be veering away from the officer, trying to avoid a collision.

On Friday, the officer, Patrick Pogan, explained publicly for the first time what went through his mind during his confrontation with the cyclist, Christopher Long.

Mr. Pogan has been charged with assaulting Mr. Long by body-checking him off his bicycle on July 25, 2008, at a Critical Mass rally, then lying about what had happened in reports charging Mr. Long with a crime.

Testifying at his trial in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, Mr. Pogan explained that he had been standing on Seventh Avenue, just south of 47th Street, when he turned his head and focused on Mr. Long because he appeared to be pedaling through a red light, riding in the middle of the street, screaming, stretching his arms above his head and flashing, in Mr. Pogan’s view, both his middle fingers.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/24/nyregion/24pogan.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

And if I remember correctly the officer stared down the cyclist and then moved toward him before body checking him off of his bike. The lying by these cops never stops.

They tried to make it sound like this man on the bike was trying to run this cop over.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWjSOVDyUJ4

Plenty of people who lie over and over and over again about something eventually start to believe their own bullshit.

Or, maybe he's just EXTREMELY stupid.

here's the video. he tried so hard to avoid a collision that he took 3-4 paces to get in the line of the cyclist. as cube so succinctly put it, fuck tha police.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_xABS6Brho&NR=1

Gee, I wonder where he got the idea he could violently assault someone, arrest the victim and then perjure the shit out of the arrest report???

... by colliding with the bicyclist?

Yeah, there is a reason why they're called pigs.

Using that lame defense after being very well aware of the tape that is being released publicly? Really? That kind of stupidity bothers me more than the original incident.

Seriously. Why go out of your way to try and harm and quite possibly, disable someone for life. Psychopath.

Yes.... being a cop is a cushy job.. (especially in this economy)

Look at what he was doing? He was standing in the street directing traffic for a bicycle parade.. at what, $50,000 a year for starting pay in New York?

Plus, add in OT, court time, full benefits, Uniform allowance and off-duty details at $50 an hour... Man.. I'll take that pay any day of the week...

the starting pay is actually only about 44,000 including various benefits, holiday pay, uniform allowance (but not overtime) and in the New York Metro Area let alone NYC itself, that doesn't even qualify as middle class anymore...

A New Yorker would have to make $123,322 a year to have the same standard of living as someone making $50,000 in Houston.

In Manhattan, a $60,000 salary is equivalent to someone making $26,092 in Atlanta.

The borough of Queens (which if you don't know much about NYC is a last vestige of middle class life) is the fifth most expensive urban area in the country.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/money/2009/02/05/2009-02-05_nyc_so_costly_you_need_to_earn_six_figur.html#ixzz0lxzQp0yf

BTW i'm not defending this asshole cop in the least, i know of the case and have seen the video and high hope they throw the book at him. But i'm just refuting your claim that its a cushy job. The pay may seem sky high in other parts of the country but in NYC its pretty damn low. I mean most of these guys (not the asshole in question) put their lives on the line everyday for a city they cannot even afford to live in.

It is pretty clear the cop is lying - the cyclists hands are on the handlebars the whole time - not flipping him off. Cyclist is clearly going aroung him when the cop took 4 rapid steps over to body check him.

Video leaves no doubt the cop is at fault.

Will the cop be hit with LYING under oath?

I guess they care more about keeping their access than about even minimal standards of fairness.

Of course, that still wouldn't make it OK for the cop to hit him, even if he were doing that. Mr. Pogan is quite rightly charged with assault and should be prosecuted.