New York Cop Attacks Cyclist.

Furthermore, it saddens and appals me that so many of the people on here assume that because someone is involved in a protest that they disagree with that they then consider the people involved in that protest as being worthwhile recipients of unprovoked violence by the police.

The right to protest is one that has been hard won and we should respect those who choose to exercise that right regardless of our personal opinions on the matter.

What doesn't seem to have been conceded in any of the articles is that the cyclist may have been riding dangerously prior to the footage. If that were the case, the police officer would still be in the wrong because his actions were disproportionate and dangerous and could have resulted in very serious injury. Indeed, if the cyclist had hit his head on the kerb he could have been killed, a real possibility as he was propelled to the side of the road and landed on the pavement.

Since when is an American Football tackle a legitimate police procedure for apprehension? And was the cyclist even in the wrong? These are the questions that need to be answered.

I am not a big fan of the Critical Mass rides as the herd mentality can result in fractious and hostile attitudes between riders and other road users. However, the police have to assume that, as a demonstration, it has a right to go ahead as peacefully as possible and that if road users are disrupted for a short time, this should be tolerated.

boybiker wrote:

Protesting?
What the fark are they protesting about? Apart from the fact that nobody takes the slightest notice of their self interested half witted whining.

The intention of Critical Mass is to highlight how bicycle unfriendly most major cities are.

Why is their protesting 'self interested half witted whining' exactly?

[quote="Mike HealeyWhat an excellent idea. Especially as the 2007 figures show that the US has a murder rate of 0.043 per 1000 population and the UK has one of 0.0141/1000, i.e. about a third.[/quote]

There are far too many folks on this forum who take things literally and are quick to jump on the slightest, light-hearted comment. Idiot

andyp - "The intention of Critical Mass is to highlight how bicycle unfriendly most major cities are. " No, CM are protesting generally about anything and nothing and screwing things up for bona fide cyclists. We know it's tricky riding around major cities, it's not like a tootle down a country lane, which I suspect is what CMers and those recently climbed on to the bike riding cause (there are loads in London, poncing along, IPods stuffed in their ears, thinking they have a right to do whatever they want on the road) think it should be. CM is not to do with cycling; viz this blog and others I've read about the Pogan case (which is dreadful and I hope that fat f#ck gets sent to Guantanamo or Afghanistan) where the majority of cyclists disown CM as a herd of pretentious f#ckwits. All they end up doing is making life difficult for those of us who use bikes every day and can't afford always to be fractious with motorists.

andyp wrote:

George or Dick wrote:

CM was taken over by militants a long time ago, and now has little to do with the real concerns of most cyclists.

How can an organisation which has no leaders or heirarchy be "taken over by militants"?

There is no such thing as an organisation without leaders or hierarchy. With out leaders there can be no organization, and many groups with leaders manage to be totally disorganised. It's very easy where there is no solid leadership for an extremist individual to gain access and start taking control.

andyp wrote:

The intention of Critical Mass is to highlight how bicycle unfriendly most major cities are.

And they achieve this by showing how unfriendly cyclists are??? Give me a break

I can't believe someone on a cycling forum has written this ill-informed, ill-judged and one eyed rant. You seem prepared to take the evidence as presented in a newspaper as fact when cycling and cyclists consistently gets attacked by the media as we are all aware.

The case you cite involved a driver deliberately ramming his vehicle into a group of cyclists. That the cyclists responded in the heat of the moment with violence may be, in the cold light of day, regrettable it is also very understandable.

If there is any 'braindead retard' or 'farkwit arsehole' around here it is you.

Hmm, getting personal - a classic sign your losing the argument, hit a nerve maybe. Settle down petal, ill give you your rattle back when you start to play nice.

Nothing will ever change my opinion of critical mass - they make the roads less safe for me due to the hate and negative media they have generated - why should i support this is any way. This is a perfect case - the cop may have been completely in the wrong - how many motorists will see it that way?

You are looking at the case i presented so narrow mindedly - in the same situation, i would have panicked and done the same - they surrounded his car, he shouted abuse, they shouted back with threats and sat on his car, he was intimidated and tried to do a runner, hit cyclists, got a kicking, his tires slashed and his windows done in - again, he may have been in the wrong, but how many motorists will see it that way. This also isnt a media account, its what ACTUALLY HAPPENED search for it on bikeforums.net - people who were there (and are cyclists) confirm this chain of events.

Picture the scene - you are late for a reservation when you get blocked in by the CM ride purposely going slowly. you shout abuse because you are frustrated about missing your reservation. The CM retards respond by sitting on your car and rocking it. you think a kicking is imminent, so you drive off, hitting the cyclists.

I dont know about you, but in that situation i would be doing the exact same.


CRITICAL MASS ARE NOT REPRESENTATIVE OF CYCLISTS.

Maybe they dont realize the damage they are doing to our reputation because their heads are already so far up their self-righteous arses. The do nothing but cause disruption and bad media for cyclists.

CM have their heads so far up their own arses the lack of oxygen is bound to kill a few brain cells. What percentage of CM riders do you think ride very infrequently (say under 500 miles a year) and are just there beacuse their brains are filled with hemp and they are trying to fight the man? How many do you reckon are serious cyclists?

I used to attend a few critical mass rides in Sydney, until I realised they were all crazy whacked-out peace hippies. :roll:

There's was little organisation & no advocay that I could see. The whole thing seemed to be "let's disrupt everyone as much as possible under the guise of a free rights demonstration"

On every critical mass ride, almost everyone is breaking local law at some point. The whole idea is safety in numbers, but as witnessed by the vid, it's only a matter of time until the authrity targets an individual.

I happen to think that some police don't have enough powers (generally speaking). You've got people doing whatever they darnwell please, and cops don't have the power to arrest!

"No officer, it's our personal right to graffitti this public wall".

Someone mentioned on page 1 or 2 that the crime rate in America is high yet the police use plenty of force. Who said the two were that closely linked? I think there's a whole bunch of other social reasons why America is the way it is.

Back on topic, I don't think it's that bad what the cop did. We don't know the whole story. I've seen far, FAR worse examples of police violance & brutality.

BattoowooGreekgreek wrote:

I agree the resulting injuries are negligible , but I would be seriously worried by the cop's personality and his role as a policeman. If he does sh1t like that in broad daylight, what on earth would he do behind closed doors.

You got me there I guess.

Just been reading through that forum, some great quotes-

(I'm trying to be representative with my quotation)

from crazybastid83-
"Seeing this video reminds me of one of the reasons I did my 20 and got out. Thank God I was never caught on a video cam or cell phone. If I had been caught on video for every attitude adjustment I gave, I would be serving 3 consecutive life sentances by now."

10 6 1-
"hopefully there was a reason we can't see off camera for the stop, otherwise, the guy is screwed."

bxnarcorgr-
The title of this thread should be changed to "Stupid hippy fruit tries to run police officer and gets what he deserves".

Actiontrooper-
To the lawless anarchist fringe, here is what you asked for, here is what you get.
When you get gutted for your $1000 Kona, Trek, Specialized bike, maybe your friend with a camera can film your final moments for the next installment of Faces of Death.

Nice....

To be fair, although at the start many are pretty hostile, towards the end it becomes the clear the officer had no reason to stop the cyclist, other than because he wanted to!
Obviously they're all trying to support their fellow officer, but many recognise that the officer really didn't have much of an excuse.