Critical Mass Bicyclist Assaulted by NYPD

This video is crazy. It shows a Critical Mass ride in New York last Friday. There are two cops standing in the middle of the road and all the bicycles are going around them. All of a sudden one of the cops lunges at a biker who was obviously trying (successfully) to avoid him and tackles him, throwing him to the sidewalk.

According to the Times, the cop actually arrested the guy afterward for “forcing multiple vehicles to stop abruptly or change their direction”. Needless to say, once the video emerged the biker was released from prison and the cop (a third-generation NYPD) only had his badge and gun taken away. (Seems like grounds for firing, no?)

You don’t often get the surveillance state going the other way, and it’s a pleasant reminder that cameras in everyone’s hands can be an amazing thing, leaving people accountable for their actions.

July 30, 2008