Ex-Officer in Bicyclist-Shoving Case Says He Was Trying to Avoid Collision [View All]

Source: The New York Times

Ever since a videotape of a police officer knocking a man off of his bicycle in Times Square surfaced on the Internet two years ago, people have asked the same question: What was the officer thinking? The cyclist did appear, after all, to be veering away from the officer, trying to avoid a collision.

On Friday, the officer, Patrick Pogan, explained publicly for the first time what went through his mind during his confrontation with the cyclist, Christopher Long.

Mr. Pogan has been charged with assaulting Mr. Long by body-checking him off his bicycle on July 25, 2008, at a Critical Mass rally, then lying about what had happened in reports charging Mr. Long with a crime.

Testifying at his trial in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, Mr. Pogan explained that he had been standing on Seventh Avenue, just south of 47th Street, when he turned his head and focused on Mr. Long because he appeared to be pedaling through a red light, riding in the middle of the street, screaming, stretching his arms above his head and flashing, in Mr. Pogan’s view, both his middle fingers.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/24/nyregion/24pogan.html?partner=rss&emc=rss