so what is the deal with this...

[EvilNed]

If the rider was not doing anything illegal by participating in this ride, than the cop is in the wrong. If the ride itself was illegal, than the rider is in the wrong. And thus, by participating in this illegal ride, it is perfectly Ok for a police officer to knock him off his bike while he's driving at high speeds? Sorry, but, erh, the punishment don't fit the crime on that one!

[MaximusIncredulous]

It's a bit hazy but they seem to be legal since the rides don't seem to fit Parks Department's definition of a parade or gathering requiring a permit: http://times-up.org/index.php?page=060216_cm_victory

[MikePizzoff]

DUMMIES. DUMMIES. DUMMIES. Know what the hell you're talking about before you start going off on what you think is correct. The bike ride is called Critical Mass. It happens once a month in just about every major city in the United States. A judge in NYC even ruled that this be permitted to happen once a month, without any permits. The police officer was WAY out of line by knocking the kid off his bike just because he wasn't in the bike lane. Sadly, and unsurprisingly, the cop only received a slap on the wrist and instead of being suspended, is "stuck" doing desk duty for a brief period of time. I feel this guy needs to lose his badge, indefinitely; who knows what else he's liable of doing. Does anybody realize that the kid on the bike could of been killed by being attacked like that? The worst part of the story is, apparently the kid ending up being arrested and having to spend over 20 hours in jail. FOR WHAT? Something that's completely legal? EDIT: I was only ranting to certain people. Not all of you.

[Khardis]

You must not know to many New Yorkers. I admit that for at least the last 20 years Manhattan is leaning towards becoming Rich Fvck Island as more and more expensive condos are built in lieu of affordable housing but not EVERYONE that isn't an overpaid Yuppie lives in the trash cans. Not yet anyway. In the next 20 or so years, you will probably be correct. I know plenty of New Yorkers my sister lived in New York for years. And the only place affordable to her on her 60K salary was in Brooklyn. Which is not the place I am talking about.

[mista_mo]

The worst kind of officers are those that believe they are effectively above the law, and "immune" as it were, to the punishment that would befall another if they copied what the offending officer did. I don't agree with all the cop bashing that people seem to do (tbh, I'm leaning towards police officer as my career) but in this case I agree... I still don't understand why the punishment they get is so light at times though...

[Mike70]

This is interesting: Offical Criminal Complaint Filed on behalf of the People of the State of New York. The second to last paragraph is complete science fiction. Any reason why it's not signed by the arresting officer? that "report" seems to be, even from the one minute of film we've seen, complete and total bull. that guy supposedly purposefully rode his bike at the cop and then knocked him down causing injury to the cop's forearms??? wow. what a fantasy world some people live in...

[Eyebiter]

The department was upset the video was put up on youtube. They later asked the public to submit future videos to them first. Yeah right... they wish.

[slickwilly13]

"the cop is a fascist POS like 99.9% of all police are." What ever, dude. My dad was a cop for Houston. I grapple with the local police on a regular basis. Or the ones I play golf with. I bet they are pieces of sh!t, too. Not everone who wears a badge is a bad guy. I know plenty of decent people who are police officers. Sure, there are people who do not deserve to wear that badge such as the prick in the video or those assholes who raided that mayors house. But to say that only .1% are not pieces of sh!t is a crock of sh!t.

[horrormad]

Maybe the guy on the bike had broken the law no body knows except him and the police.

[darth los]

It's up to the people to do something about this gross misuse of power. There were a thousand people standing there watching, but nobody did a damn thing. Every time you see a cop doing something tyrannical and illegal, it is your obligation make a citizens' arrest on the offending officer and knock his teeth out if he resists. I'm by no means a badass, but then again, i'm not a candyass either. If a cop ever puts his damned hands on me like that, i'm going to introduce him to the business end of a knuckle sandwich. Just because you wear a badge doesn't make you exempt from catching hell when you abuse the power given to you by the people. I never cared much for bullies in highschool, and I don't particularly care for bullies with badges either. That cop was looking for sh|t, plain and simple. there are many things that we are constitutionaly empowered to do such as a citizens arrest. However, try that in manhattan and you'll get jump by the entire local precinct. I suspect, for that matter, the same would happen to you no matter where you tried it. Although, the presence of a camera tends to be an effective deterent. I have a feling that if the cop knew he was being recorded he would have behaved differently.

[MaximusIncredulous]

there are many things that we are constitutionaly empowered to do such as a citizens arrest. However, try that in manhattan and you'll get jump by the entire local precinct. I remember a guy that got into a fist fight with someone in the Village and the cops just poured out of everywhere, streets, vans, taxicabs. For a moment I thought the entire city was made up of POs with just a few civilians here and there.

[strayrider]

Why did the cop pick this guy out of all of the other riders? Perhaps they saw something we don't see on the video? -stray-

[DeadJonas190]

Complete abuse of power. I have run into an officer or two who like to think they are the law. I was at work one day taking out the garbage with another employee the day of a car cruise in our area. My employee thought she locked her keys in the trunk of her car so after dumping the trash we walked over to her car. A cop pulls into our private parking lot and tells me that he is going to write us a ticket or arrest us if we don't move along. I showed him my name tag that said "Manager" on it and told him what was going on and he just says "Go inside or you'll be written a ticket or arrested." So then I just blurted out "So your going to come onto private property at 7pm and tell me, a grown man that I have to leave my property or I'll be arrested? I think you need to move along." I really dont know what came over me, but I was pretty pissed that he had the balls to try some crap like that. At that point my boss pulled into the lot and started to ask the cop what was going on and the cop told him "Go inside and shut up" so my boss said to him "Excuse me, your on my property harassing my employees. I want your badge number, I'm calling this in." Suddenly the cop lost his balls and said "Well umm you guys need to go in we are clearing the streets from the cruise" and he drove away. There are two great parts that happened afterwards. One of our employees father happened to be a reserver officer who was also ranked higher than this guy. We told him so he not only went to the officer and made him come in and apologize, but he also went to the mayor (who was one of our regular customers) and the mayor himself apologized for the officers behavoir. As far as the original post goes, I hope that officer loses his job. Anybody who does what he did does not deserve a badge.

[strayrider]

Okay, so that's your story. However, that still does not make the cop in the video wrong. I've viewed it now a dozen times or so and from what I can see the rider(s) are running a red light (note the stopped vehicular traffic). While the Critical Mass ride might be legal, not obeying traffic laws is not. Why out of all of the riders did the cop pick this guy? What possibly happened out of the camera's eye might have caused this incident? -stray- ps -- Jonas, I'm not saying here that the cop is "not guilty", simply that there is not enough info in this vid to scream "police brutality". We need more info here. Is the biker in his proper lane? As the cop walks toward the curb, is the rider illegally infringing on his right to do so? If a law is being broken should the cops simply back off and hope that nothing bad happens "down the road?" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_Mass A**holes. -stray- ps -- I love riding my bike and do so whenever the time and weather permits. I also obey traffic laws.