Critical mass cop hits cyclist

Not to say that this wasn't a case of excessive force, but I have a hard time believing that this cop just randomly picked this one guy to go postal on... I really think there was something else going on that the camera didn't catch.

Regardless, the reaction is over-the-top...

I would tend to agree with you BUT in this case the cop said in the report that the cyclist was weaving and impeding traffic, tried to run into the cop while the cop  was trying to move out of the way, then at the last second he held up his hands to protect himself... 

From that statement plus the video I would think that he hit him and then made up a reason.  

Just my 2cents.   

here's an article about it.  the cop appears to have lied about what happened, he said he commanded the guy to stop, the cyclist didn't, and then the cyclist deliberately ran into him and made cop fall to ground.  all of which is clearly not true in the video.  he's been suspended.

LINK 

Not enough preliminary video footage of the assaulted cyclist, but the cyclist was moving towards the left, to which appeared that he was trying to not hit the cop, and at the same time, the cop sauntered (just a choice of word) towards the cyclist and then gave him a football "chuck" shot.

Me thinks the officer really didn't have a reason, but interesting to find out more about this, and why many of the witnesses haven't reported their statements (there were more than enough along the route.

After seeing the video and reading the article I have to say, it looks bad for the cop. Was the cyclist weaving in and out of lanes and obstructing traffic? I'd have to say yes. That's what happens at Critical Mass events. ALL of the cyclists weave in and out of lanes and obstruct traffic. So why did this officer decide to single out this one cyclist? To me it appears that the cyclist was trying to avoid the officer.

I generally support the boys in blue, but this is troubling.

David

Are you serious? He didn't wrap, didn't lift with the hips, didn't drive through the ball carrier cyclist.

of course the cop is an a$$hole and there is no excuse for what happened on the video and the cop should be punished; that been said I do NOT support critical mass ride and their IMO stupid tactics to supposedly 'bring awareness' for those of use who rides our bikes on the street.

The only 1st experience about this kind of rides was here in Boston, I was running around the Charles river and a mass ride was going on Memorial drive, the were not only completely blocking the entire two lanes to traffic riding and stopping every few hundred 100yds, they were also VERY aggressive and screaming nasty words to ANY vehicle on the road. Since then I feel ashamed to be considered a cyclist in the same category as these morons and I can’t blame some people to dislike them.

According to the NY papers today, the cop is a former college offensive lineman.  That explains his technique.  ;-) 

Sure does. From an O line point of view he had very good form.

Not to hijack the thread, but Condorman... is that your calf or a butt cheek in your avatar?

(Not a huge fan of critical mass rides either, but given the cop was reassigned desk duty, etc., sounds and looks like he was out of line.)

it is my calf muscle.  i tried changing my avatar, but loaded the wrong picture - and now my work computer doesn't seem to want to cooperate in re-loading the page to change the avatar to the file I wanted.  so you get to see my engorged calf muscle taken a couple days after running the Disney Marathon.  Oops.