[SDCBC] Critical Mass Cyclist Assaulted by NYPD

[Frank Paiano]

-- JonIsaacs at aol.com wrote:
Just as we hope that the actions of one poorly intentioned cyclist do not speak for all of us, I think we need to believe that the actions of one misbehaving policeman does not respresent the entirety of the law enforcement community.  

What happened there?  It certainly does not look good....

Jon Isaacs
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Please, Jon.  Don't give us this "one bad apple" argument.  The exact same thing happened here in San Diego during a Critical Mass ride about a year ago.  An officer in a patrol car repeatedly charged his car toward a group of cyclists in front of me.  He then sped ahead, parked, jumped out of the car, chose one of the cyclists at random, and tackled him to the ground in the exact same manner as in this film -- totally unprovoked and vicious.  When I yelled at this miscreant that he had just committed vehicular assault and assault and battery, he just laughed and said, "Tell it to my sergeant."
When officers can literally kill an obviously mentally person who is waving a knife or a stick or a rock around and not face any consequences (all have happened here in San Diego and you can ask Bonnie Dumanis why they were justified in doing so) or can be caught on tape beating the tar out of someone without really caring one way or another whether the person is really a threat to anyone and still be acquitted (Rodney King) or shoot dozen of times into a person reaching for his green card and still be acquitted (also in New York), why would an officer worry about assaulting a random cyclist?   If it weren't for some pesky tourist with a video camera, this cop would not have had a care in the world to worry about.
There may only be a few like that as you say, but they are always backed up by the system around them.  If this guy is really stripped of his badge and his gun permanently, I will be floored.
Frank Paiano
Ocean Beach
 
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