It's sad, but in America, this guy will continue to carry a gun and a club.

IMHO, anyone who would behave like this even once should be considered unfit to be a police officer.

Assault, plain and simple. The video says it all.

A great example of why you don't feel safe at home, and why I moved away.

To control and enslave.
obi

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We all know people we grew up with that were dumbass vandals always starting shit and yet somehow some of them end up getting a badge.

The police force has lowered its standards the same way the military has.


This asshole needs to be fired and brought up on assault charges.

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This is a true story. After 911 I drove a small horse van from JFK to the Newburgh Quarantine. At JFK a vet places an FDA seal on the truck, which can't be tampered with until you reach quarantine, as each animal who enters the country must spend time there. It took me 9hrs. to travel from JFK to the Whitestone Bridge. Not even a distance of 12 miles. Once I reached the police inspection (of vehicles leaving not entering the city) the high school dropout that lead the inspection began to open the van door. I told him, "Officer that is an FDA seal, if you break it I can't move, and we will all be in trouble." He asked me, "What is the FDA?" This ladies and gentlemen is the first line of defense in NY, where they check trucks leaving the city, but not entering it, 3 days after a "terrorist attack."

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NY pigs hate anyone on a bike. Thats nothing new.

NY pigs beat someone for being different than them. Thats nothing new.

NY pigs get held to account for their crimes? THAT would be something new!

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They showed a portion of this video on Morning Joe (MSNBC) today. Mika Brzezinski said the "unidentified officer has been assigned desk duty". They didn't provide any other information, beyond the usual smirk from Joe Scarborough and the typical flippant remark by Ms. Brzezinski.

The officer should be identified, as any assailant would be who is accused of assault, and secondly, dismissed from the police department. Next, I would think criminal charges would be filed.

Does anybody know anymore about this, such as the bike rider's name, the reason the cop gave for deliberately pushing this particular rider down, or any other details beyond what's shown on this video?

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Critical Mass is a monthly nuance. They do nothing for their cause, whatever it maybe, but anger New Yorkers by causing traffic delays and rdinign in such a way as to be a danger to anyone crossing the street.

The cop should get a medal for what he did.

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This video provides no context for the action taken by the officer. If it was for no legitimate reason, the cop should be fired and prosecuted. If there was some justification, let's hear it.

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We should all make sure we show up for our local Critical Mass next month.

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I am in no way going to defend the actions of that police officer. What he did was utterly detestable. But Critical Mass needs to end, and this incident is an unfortunate example of one of the reasons. What are the goals of Critical Mass? Unless I'm mistaken, their biggest one is to promote sharing the road with bicyclists. There is also an environmental concern as well.

However, their actions only serve to undermine their cause. Remember that (at least here in Chicago), they overtake a street with no warning and no sanction from the city. What are the real net impacts of a Critical Mass event?

1) They piss off a lot of drivers. Any driver happening upon a CM event is forced to sit in his car while waiting for the bikes to clear. These events can go on for upwards of an hour. This is supposed to make these very same drivers have respect and concern for bicyclists? It only serves to anger them and make them less tolerant of people on bikes.

2) To shut down a street so that no one else can use it is the exact opposite of "sharing the road." It's ridiculous that a group with such a goal would even consider this tactic.

3) All those cars just sit there idling instead of reaching their destination and being turned off. This only adds to pollution.

My street is a busy one and at least once or twice a summer, they choose it for one of their takeovers. The attitude on display by the people riding by is never one of activism and awareness. It is always "this is fun - we have taken over this place." Critical Mass is a group that attracts hooligans who should be doing something better with their time than breaking the law and harming their own cause. Its leaders should wake up already.

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The cop was crossing to the curb.
The bike rider, rather than slow down or pass behind the pedestrian turned right to cut in front of the cop.
The cop then shoved the guy off his bike.

I'd say the cop overreacted but the bike rider was being obnoxious.

Rather than being about sharing the road Critical Mass seems to be about getting enough cyclists together to be as obnoxious in their behavior as they like.

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Maybe in an effort to recycle a useless mass of steel the cyclist should rent himself a Hummer and aim it at a cop. Let's see the cop try to push that around

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Watch the video carefully. The biker steers to the left to avoid the cop. The cop is looking at the biker the entire time and takes a wide step to cut off the biker, the biker then steers even more left...almost all the way to the sidewalk...to avoid the cop. The biker actually avoids the cop completely. The cop does not signal the biker to stop at any point. Then as the biker is passing the cop the cop surges forward and slams into the biker, knocking him brutally into the ground.

No matter what you feel about bikers in NYC, this is a clear case of police brutality.

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I work in the city and walk to mass transit. These assholes in Critical Mass have no regard for pedestrians crossing the street. These fuckwads are going to keep it up until one of them gets shot or run over.

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The Critical Mass monthly demonstration is to raise awareness of cyclers, but I imagine that the NYC group is quite strident. Here in my town, in the building where I worked until a few years ago, a group of bicycle riders meets in the parking lot every Thursday evening for a long ride. I used to call them "heck's angels" because they weren't particularly friendly. They weren't unfriendly either, and when I needed to back out my car and leave, they watched me and nudged each other to move out of the way. Their attitude seemed to be something like tolerance of lowly petrol users. If you're driving in the neighborhood where they ride, you see them long after dark, only on Thursday nights. They ride safely, carefully, with their special reflectors, in helmets for safety. They look beautiful and graceful. I've come to respect them. Because of them, some roads here now have bicycle lanes. They are the standard bearers who can envision a future that definitely includes bicycle lanes, and maybe can even include more walking trails and horse-cart paths. We can either let the future happen, or we can envision a better future, share that vision, and create a beautiful world post-peak-oil. That cop needs to have his taser used on him.

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This is the new AMERIKKA!

I was hassled by two cops on two separate occasions - once when it was I who was being harassed by my neighbor and once for walking down the street. They don't just racial profile. They bother everyone. And they are brain-dead too. One cop didn't even know what a restraining order was. IDIOTS.

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Let me get this straight. We buy oil from countries suspected of _funding_ terrorists!
The point of Critical Mass is to influence a majority _addicted_ to cars to use fossil-fuel free transportation (bicycles).
These bicyclists are the real patriots as far as I am concerned.
I suppose those who use _violence_ to show their opposition to fossil-free transportation insist that oil-addicted transportation is preferable and are _willing to hurt_ those who disagree. Who are the real terrorists and/or their allies here? Which side is the man on who took an oath to defend the Constitution against its enemies foreign and domestic and keep the streets safe _and_ was given a gun, a uniform and a badge for that oath?
This is a topsy turvy universe.

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99% of the time.

http://www.nypost. com/seven/ 07292008/ news/regionalnew s/2nd_video_ gives_nypd_ black_eye_ 122136.htm

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it looked deliberate on cop's part but was probably spur of the moment under influence of anger and adrenalin. The cop was walking and because the bike was going faster he did have to swerve to avoid hitting him. the cop reacted as I might after a near miss that could have injured me. it will be intesting to see if there is a trial, discplinary action or a lawsuit from this incident.

I am among those who am little wary of the anrachist critical Mass movement. it makes participants think they are having fun and making a statement against the car culture. I think it might be counterproductive to goal of respect for bikers by cars and pedestrianshav

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