http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=d4b_1217277214


NEW YORK

(CBS)

A New York City police officer was stripped of his gun and badge
Monday after he was caught on video slamming a cyclist in motion to
the ground.



The cyclist was among over a hundred other "Critical Mass" riders
passing through Times Square Friday evening, when witnesses say -- and
as a video posted on YouTube shows -- two officers approach him.
What happens next is disturbing. One of the officers intercepts the
rider, identified as Christopher Long of Bloomfield, N.J., and
apparently deliberately shoves him hard as he rides by, sending the
cyclist hard to the pavement.
Craig Radhuber was taking part in the ride, and witnessed the
incident.
"And the one spun around, saw a bicyclist and grabbed him off his
bicycle. And then the other policeman jumped on top of him and the two
were wrestling, wrestling this guy down trying to arrest him," he told
CBS 2.
Radhuber had not yet seen the video until CBS 2 showed it to him.


"Wow!" he said watching it for the first time. "I was so upset when I
saw this thing happen."


Critical Mass sponsors monthly bike rides in New York and other cities
to bring attention to bike ridership, ironically, to make city streets
safer for cyclists.
Radhuber has participated in numerous such rides through the city and
says the animosity on the part of police towards Critical Mass has
increased.
"I've never seen it like this before. This actually surprised me," he
said. "It makes me not trust the police at all. It makes me very
angry."


Police have placed the officer, identified as Patrick Pogan, on desk
duty pending the outcome of a department investigation. Pogan told
officials that Long was obstructing traffic and that the biker was
actually trying to run him down.
Long, 29, was charged with attempted assault, resisting arrest, and
disorderly conduct.


He'll make an appearance in court on August 5.




End quote.

The cyclist could have landed on a pram or elderly person on the
pavement. How the flip they can consider those charges against the
cyclist is beyond me.

Witnesses challenged Officer Pogan’s account of the incident.
One cyclist, Craig Radhuber, 54, said he was a few feet behind Mr.
Long, whom he said he did not know. He said Officer Pogan “body-
slammed this kid off the bicycle so hard that he went from the lane to
the curb.”
“I went over to yell at the police when another officer came and asked
me to move back,” Mr. Radhuber said.
Mr. Radhuber said Mr. Long had not been weaving in traffic, as Officer
Pogan alleged. “There was no traffic behind us — there was no traffic
to weave in and out of,” Mr. Radhuber said. “The police officer looked
to see who he was going to pick off.”
Bill DiPaola, a director of Time’s Up, said he arrived just after Mr.
Long went down. “He got up and was dazed,” he said, referring to Mr.
Long. Then, referring to Officer Pogan and the other officer in the
video, he said, “They put their knees on top of his head and were
smashing him into a phone booth.”
A lawyer for Mr. Long, Mark Taylor, said the cyclist had been
“assaulted by the police.” He said Mr. Long, who was bruised but not
hospitalized, was not available for interviews. “We believe the video
speaks for itself,” he said, adding that he hoped the Manhattan
district attorney’s office would drop the charges against Mr. Long.


Norman Siegel, a civil rights lawyer who represented Time’s Up in
2006, said he had been asked by its leaders to look at the video. He
said it “shows unacceptable illegal behavior by this particular police
officer.”



“Unfortunately, it’s another example of how the N.Y.P.D. has targeted
without justification the Critical Mass bike riders,” he said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/29/ny...l?ref=nyregion