Constant video surveillance is a double-edged sword. No one wants to feel like they’re always being watched but then again, the ubiquity of video capture devices in the hands of citizens can be useful for keeping our public servants honest. Take this short (1 minute) video of last week’s Critical Mass ride in NYC as a for instance.
As a parent you want to tell your kids that you can trust the police, right? This cop still has a job today as an NYPD officer.
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Actually, he won’t have a job for long. A cop won’t get fired on the spot. He was stripped of his gun and badge and placed on desk duty pending the investigation. An investigation must always ensue, because everyone is supposed to be innocent until proven guilty. And the guy on the bike got a few undeserved bruises but is already suing, and he is going to make out like gang-busters. So don’t feel too sorry for him.
thats f’n great video…i was cracking up..
but seriously, i fell bad for that poor kid….but oh boy, that was great video…f’n hysterical. cant stop laughing.
ooh, i think i’ll go for a nice bike ride…”hello offic^*%#$(*&%&!@&(*& &*(^ what the?!! ouch”
and after doing a little reading up on this cause, its pretty easy to see that controversy and violence are associated with this group in just about every city they assemble.
some of the riders “cork” cross streets and intersections to prevent cars from getting in between bikers. others have been know to attack drivers and smash their cars with their fists and bikes. you can google “critical mass violence” yourself. its so bad that in san fran someone started a new group called “critical manners”.
what the video fails to show, as so many media often do, is what this alleged victim was doing prior to the ubrupt altercation with NYPD. it is entirely possible that this young man was involved in a violent altervation as a ‘corker’ or attacked a driver prior to his run-in. since he is on a bike, and the police are on foot and outnumbered, maybe this guy took off to escape and the police radioed ahead to stop him. clearly the police were letting everyone else pass by w/out incident.
so, maybe we should wait and see what the real story is.
maybe the cause is worthy but these folk act like trouble makers and deserve to find trouble.
oh and yes, i will tell my kids to trust the police….and stay out of trouble unless you are looking for it.
not to mention that if an ambulance is held up getting to my house to help my children because of one of these trouble makers, i will be seriously pissed….like carzy pissed.
@nav: If you hear any further details about the case against the cop (you’re much more likely to read about it in a local paper than I am) drop a comment. I’d be curious to see what happens to the cop.
@hempstead: I agree that some critical mass riders can definitely be accurately labeled as antagonistic. I also know a lot of moms and dads who take their kids out on CM rides. You can’t infer behavior simply from group membership alone (think about how most people view Catholics and then image how many of those stereotypes you don’t fall into).
I don’t agree with your allusion to some sort of bias or conspiracy on the part of the citizen-journalist who captured the incident and I really think that if there were some seriously egregious act on the part of the cyclist that warranted the assault we would have heard about it by now.
Imagine if that cyclist were one of your kids (10 or so years hence) and give me two or three scenarios (even one, maybe) that you’d be OK with a cop taking down Jack in that way. To throw a little Hume into the moral framework here: Under what situation would you will that your child (in fact, all children) be treated as the policeman in the video treated this cyclist?
Then, what would you consider the likelihood that this cyclist engaged in that behavior.
I’ve watch this video a few times now and I have to say that I wish Mita wouldn’t get in the way so much.
Not that it would justify anything, but there is no way to tell if the dude on the bike was being some sort of a-hole to the cop as he was riding towards him.
Most importantly though, listen to the audio of the slo mo play back nice and loud. It is good and creepy.