Monday, July 28, 2008

WTF Late Night Video...

When it comes to riding a bike in a major metropolitan city one would think the police would be way down the list of worries. Well, think again. I would like to thank PoliTits for guiding me to Earthbound Misfit's blog where I saw this:



I have been riding a bike as my primary form of transportation for over 4 years while living in Boston and now Los Angeles and I have never seen anything like that. I've been hit(broke a collar bone), had beers thrown at me, and had countless city buses nearly run me down but a policeman slamming me off my bike? I understand that critical mass is technically illegal due to bikes taking over major streets while they ride through but it doesn't give the cops the right to just smash people off their bikes! Sickening...

Update: The cop who railed the guy off the bike was a rookie with only 3 weeks on the job. Since the video was released he has been stripped of his badge and put on desk duty until a full review of the incident can take place. In his report he said he told the rider to stop and that he used his bike as a weapon against the officer. 3rd Degree Assault! Wow.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the link! Now my boss needs to go to lunch so I can watch the video.

Randal Graves said...

Ah, he had it comin' to him, the non-SUV drivin', filthy hippie.

Unknown said...

Holy crap, at least the cyclist should win mucho moolah from the city ... if he lived!

Cops are getting really out of control lately. There are a lot of tasered-to-death stories surfacing. I consider tasering old ladies and 19-year-olds with a broken back pretty bad police work. But, that's what's going on.

Kup said...

My guess is the cop is going to argue that he was trying to get to the sidewalk when the bie almost ran him over. But when you watch the slow motion video, you can see the bike rider was clearly trying to get out of his way, and that the cop moved quickly to act like a thug.

puddy said...

holy shit! it's patriotic pete!!! been a while boy-o... how ya been?

DivaJood said...

I have to agree with Randal - after all, he's my campaign manager so he has to know stuff. Bikes don't guzzle gasoline, so they don't boost the 'Murcan economy.

alzaido alzaido said...

The dude on the bike was probably wanted. The cop looked like he was watching the cyclists wand waiting for this guy.

It's easy to cry police brutality. Unfortunately, we were not given anything but a few second clip.

As Madden says on his football game, "That's gonna hurt in the morning!"

Anonymous said...

Just so you know, Bradda, I live in the NY area, and stuff like this does not make the news, Alzaido, knowing the NYPD the way I do, they were waiting for this guy, but wanted? Maybe for being one of the organizers.

Bradda said...

dcup, I'm sending your boss vibes that they have to pee REALLY bad. Ok, watch it now!

Randal, I could almost smell the incense coming off of that dirty hippie!

Helen, The cops are totally out of control. I had just mover here when the MacArthur Park thing went down where they smash up the press. Nazis!

Diva, They don't run on gas, bikes run on the cries of sea otters!

Alzaido, Ummm, waiting for him? In a sea of bikers?? That's some serious police work to pick him out of that group. Or maybe that cop was just a meathead asshole. I'll go with the latter...

Spartacus, Thanks for dropping by! NYC cops are a special group rivaled barely by LAPD!

Life As I Know It Now said...

fucking police brutality :(

Bradda said...

Liberality, Yea, NY cops are rough. Apperently the guy was only on the job for 3 weeks before this incident.

puddy said...

very interesting follow up to the story!!!

thanks to rob for the link