The fingers
10 TW
http://wsvn.com/news/local/bicyclist-police-cruiser-collide-on-rickenbacker-causeway/ :x
Bicyclist/police cruiser collision/Rickenbacker Causeway
Bicyclist/police cruiser collision/Rickenbacker Causeway
Anti-bicyclist police are out there
- Thread starter gogo
- Start date
The fingers
10 TW
Of course, not all police hate cycling. 
http://www.lex18.com/story/32749530/making-a-differenceversailles-officers-buy-bike-for-little-girl
WOODFORD COUNTY, Ky (LEX 18) When one seven-year-old girl’s bicycle was stolen, she didn’t know what to do. Now, thanks to two Versailles Police Officers, she has a new bike.
Keija Campbell’s aunt works with the officers. Officers Zach Slone and Teddy Melton told LEX 18 that Keija feels like family to them.
Keija’s family says that she visits the police department often and always hugs the officers when she sees them.
Keija’s family eventually found her old bike. The family said Keija’s father found the bike and that a group of teenage boys had it. Although it was not found in the same condition it was lost in, it can be salvaged and will be given to Keija’s brother who did not have a bike of his own.
Little Keija told LEX 18 that her heart was healed by the officers and she was most excited that they got her a new bike in her favorite color, pink.
http://wtvr.com/2016/08/11/hopewell-police-replace-stolen-bike-for-youngster-with-autism/
HOPEWELL, Va. -- Sometimes, it the simple things in life that bring the biggest smiles.
For 12-year-old Jon, it's his bicycle.
"He loves his bike, he has autism and the bike helps him relieve a lot of his issues," said Jon's mom, Michelle.
But recently, one early Saturday, Jon's bike was stolen off the front porch.
"And it totally devastated and turned his world upside down," Michelle said.
When the officers arrived to take the larceny report, they quickly realized how much the bike meant to Jon.
"He was very upset, very upset," Hopewell Police Sgt. Donnie Reid said. "This was an item he was attached to."
While the investigation yielded few clues, it did tug at a few heartstrings.
"We as a department, we got together, pulled some funds together and purchased a bike," Reid said. "The look on his face, riding the bike around the parking lot, was what we needed."
More than one dozen officers chipped in, enough to buy the bike for Jon, and a new helmet.
"It was a big stress relief because I really didn't have the money to go get him a new one," Michelle said.
The simple act of kindness has made Jon's life that much better.
http://www.lex18.com/story/32749530/making-a-differenceversailles-officers-buy-bike-for-little-girl
WOODFORD COUNTY, Ky (LEX 18) When one seven-year-old girl’s bicycle was stolen, she didn’t know what to do. Now, thanks to two Versailles Police Officers, she has a new bike.
Keija Campbell’s aunt works with the officers. Officers Zach Slone and Teddy Melton told LEX 18 that Keija feels like family to them.
Keija’s family says that she visits the police department often and always hugs the officers when she sees them.
Keija’s family eventually found her old bike. The family said Keija’s father found the bike and that a group of teenage boys had it. Although it was not found in the same condition it was lost in, it can be salvaged and will be given to Keija’s brother who did not have a bike of his own.
Little Keija told LEX 18 that her heart was healed by the officers and she was most excited that they got her a new bike in her favorite color, pink.
http://wtvr.com/2016/08/11/hopewell-police-replace-stolen-bike-for-youngster-with-autism/
HOPEWELL, Va. -- Sometimes, it the simple things in life that bring the biggest smiles.
For 12-year-old Jon, it's his bicycle.
"He loves his bike, he has autism and the bike helps him relieve a lot of his issues," said Jon's mom, Michelle.
But recently, one early Saturday, Jon's bike was stolen off the front porch.
"And it totally devastated and turned his world upside down," Michelle said.
When the officers arrived to take the larceny report, they quickly realized how much the bike meant to Jon.
"He was very upset, very upset," Hopewell Police Sgt. Donnie Reid said. "This was an item he was attached to."
While the investigation yielded few clues, it did tug at a few heartstrings.
"We as a department, we got together, pulled some funds together and purchased a bike," Reid said. "The look on his face, riding the bike around the parking lot, was what we needed."
More than one dozen officers chipped in, enough to buy the bike for Jon, and a new helmet.
"It was a big stress relief because I really didn't have the money to go get him a new one," Michelle said.
The simple act of kindness has made Jon's life that much better.
The fingers
10 TW
http://www.citypages.com/news/right...olice-chief-over-traffic-laws-video/390441491 Cyclist strikes back.
Righteous cyclist Ward Rubrecht confronts St. Paul police chief over traffic laws [VIDEO]
Friday, August 19, 2016 by Cory Zurowski in News
The cyclist outfitted with a head cam cruised in the rain Tuesday along Selby Avenue in St. Paul. Among the vehicles passing him was a black SUV.
Failing to signal the maneuver made for a serious moving infraction in the cyclist's mind. But passing too close meant the driver may as well be the anti-Christ.
The cyclist couldn't dismount fast enough to scold the motorist about the sins of his ozone-depleting ways.
"Three feet when you pass a cyclist, sir," he said after catching up to the driver, who sat idling at a red light.
But lo and behold, this wasn't some ignorant lay commuter. The man behind the wheel was none other than St. Paul Police Chief Todd Axtell.
"Three feet," the cyclist chirped again. "You should know that law.… This is a narrow lane. I'm entitled to a full length."
The cyclist, Ward Rubrecht, knows his bike laws, and he doesn't mind telling you so.
Rubrecht, a City Pages contributing writer, is the self-appointed Deputy Dog of Cycling. Between his Facebook group, MPLS Bike Wrath, and YouTube videos, Rubrecht has taken it upon himself to tell the world that cyclists are people with rights and feelings too.
A bike has been his work-mobile for nine years. He started wearing a helmet cam for liability reasons, "then began recording each of what I believe is significantly illegal or dangerous behaviors [of drivers] I was seeing around me.… I wanted to show from a first-person perspective what it's like to be on a bike when somebody passes you too close and how not just scary that is, but really dangerous."
His videos go beyond showing. He chastises motorists and tells them how to do better. His lectures about law have all the subtlety of a jihadist.
"If somebody comes within a foot and a half from turning me into a meat pancake, I think you're entitled to be a little annoyed about that," Rubrecht says. "… I think there's a benefit for cyclists to be more confrontational on the road versus being treated like second-class citizens. In general, I don't think we stand up for ourselves."
After their first chat at the light, Axtell and Rubrecht met again in a parking lot beyond the intersection, where the chief provided his business card.
"… Please obey the law you're sworn to uphold," Rubrecht told him.
Call it one conversation in the helmeted crusader's larger mission.
"If we [stand up] to drivers more, I think we won't just be passive targets for bullying."
Cyclist strikes back.Righteous cyclist Ward Rubrecht confronts St. Paul police chief over traffic laws [VIDEO]
Friday, August 19, 2016 by Cory Zurowski in News
The cyclist outfitted with a head cam cruised in the rain Tuesday along Selby Avenue in St. Paul. Among the vehicles passing him was a black SUV.
Failing to signal the maneuver made for a serious moving infraction in the cyclist's mind. But passing too close meant the driver may as well be the anti-Christ.
The cyclist couldn't dismount fast enough to scold the motorist about the sins of his ozone-depleting ways.
"Three feet when you pass a cyclist, sir," he said after catching up to the driver, who sat idling at a red light.
But lo and behold, this wasn't some ignorant lay commuter. The man behind the wheel was none other than St. Paul Police Chief Todd Axtell.
"Three feet," the cyclist chirped again. "You should know that law.… This is a narrow lane. I'm entitled to a full length."
The cyclist, Ward Rubrecht, knows his bike laws, and he doesn't mind telling you so.
Rubrecht, a City Pages contributing writer, is the self-appointed Deputy Dog of Cycling. Between his Facebook group, MPLS Bike Wrath, and YouTube videos, Rubrecht has taken it upon himself to tell the world that cyclists are people with rights and feelings too.
A bike has been his work-mobile for nine years. He started wearing a helmet cam for liability reasons, "then began recording each of what I believe is significantly illegal or dangerous behaviors [of drivers] I was seeing around me.… I wanted to show from a first-person perspective what it's like to be on a bike when somebody passes you too close and how not just scary that is, but really dangerous."
His videos go beyond showing. He chastises motorists and tells them how to do better. His lectures about law have all the subtlety of a jihadist.
"If somebody comes within a foot and a half from turning me into a meat pancake, I think you're entitled to be a little annoyed about that," Rubrecht says. "… I think there's a benefit for cyclists to be more confrontational on the road versus being treated like second-class citizens. In general, I don't think we stand up for ourselves."
After their first chat at the light, Axtell and Rubrecht met again in a parking lot beyond the intersection, where the chief provided his business card.
"… Please obey the law you're sworn to uphold," Rubrecht told him.
Call it one conversation in the helmeted crusader's larger mission.
"If we [stand up] to drivers more, I think we won't just be passive targets for bullying."
markz
100 TW
....and Internal Affairs of that police department let that cop slide huh.
That is a corrupt dirty cop.
That is a corrupt dirty cop.
The fingers
10 TW
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-lapd-video-20160822-snap-story.html 
Kate Mather
August 22, 2016, 7:45 PM
The video shows a Los Angeles police officer rushing toward the middle of the South L.A. street where two officers were holding a man on the ground.
Officer Richard Garcia swings his right leg and kicks the man hard near his head. Over the next 10 seconds, the video shows Garcia knee the man in the back, and elbow and punch him in the head.
As the other officers stand up and move away, Garcia presses his knee into the man’s back for more than two minutes, stopping only when other officers come to help pick up the handcuffed man and drag him toward a patrol car.
For nearly two years, the video of the October 2014 arrest has been repeatedly cited by police and prosecutors as they denounced Garcia’s actions, sought discipline against him and charged him with felony assault. But the department refused to make the recording public, even after prosecutors agreed in May to a plea deal that spared Garcia jail time.
The Times, however, obtained a three-minute recording of the arrest under an order from an L.A. County Superior Court judge. The video had been introduced as evidence in the criminal case against Garcia.
Clinton Alford Jr.’s arrest mirrored similar video-recorded encounters between African Americans and officers across the country that have prompted heated criticism. Whether to release such recordings has become a crucial issue, particularly as departments add more cameras on officers’ uniforms and in their patrol cars as a way to build public trust.
The LAPD generally does not make those recordings public, a position that has been criticized as the department deploys thousands of body cameras to officers. Chief Charlie Beck, who has said he was shocked by the video of Garcia’s actions, has also argued that releasing the videos outside of court could jeopardize criminal and disciplinary investigations, and could violate the privacy of people caught on camera.
The video of Alford’s arrest was captured by a security camera at a nearby factory and has been a key piece of evidence against Garcia.
The officer told LAPD investigators that he kicked Alford in the shoulder and used other force to help control him as he resisted police. His attorney has said his client used a reasonable level of force and never should have been prosecuted.
At a preliminary hearing in December, attorney Robert Rico argued that one of Alford’s hands was under his body and that he “still posed a threat,” according to court transcripts.
The prosecutor, however, disagreed.
“From the get-go, Mr. Alford — you can see in the video — does not threaten the officers in any way, shape or form,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Oscar Plascencia told the judge.
Alford’s hands are obscured during about half of the video by the two officers who held him down, including when Garcia strikes him. After the other officers move away, Alford barely moves as Garcia presses his knee into Alford’s back.
Garcia is the only officer seen on the video punching, elbowing or slamming into Alford. The recording shows another officer later kick at Alford’s legs to separate them, then stand on Alford’s ankles — a move Beck also criticized.
A woman who worked at the factory where the camera was mounted testified in court that she was alarmed by what she saw that day. Citlali Alvarado was inside the building, near a monitor showing the recording, when she saw an officer kick and elbow a man on the ground.
“I didn’t think it was a proper action,” Alvarado said. “The victim was already held down.”
Soon after, a handful of officers came into the factory and asked whether there were any cameras, Alvarado testified.
Two of the officers laughed as they watched the video, Alvarado said. Garcia faced up to three years in jail if convicted of the felony assault charge. Earlier this year, prosecutors quietly agreed to a deal that allowed him to plead no contest and avoid jail time if he completes community service, follows all laws, stays away from Alford and donates $500 to a charity by late May 2017.
Under the agreement, Garcia, 35, could then enter a new plea to a misdemeanor charge that would replace the felony and would be placed on two years of probation. If he doesn’t appear in court, he could be sentenced to jail.
Some have criticized the move as too lenient, including those who saw the video for the first time Monday.
“If this encounter didn’t result in more serious criminal penalties, what would?” said Peter Bibring, a senior staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California. “It raises serious questions whether the D.A. — even in those cases where they file charges — [is] being vigorous enough to hold the officers accountable.”
Matt Johnson, the president of the Police Commission, the civilian panel that oversees the LAPD, said that what he saw was “not only out of policy, but unlawful and at odds with our mission to build more trust between the LAPD and communities of color.”
“I am personally disappointed that Mr. Garcia is not going to be serving jail time and will have the opportunity to have his conviction reduced to a misdemeanor,” Johnson said in a statement.
Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey declined an interview request through a spokeswoman Monday. She defended the agreement earlier this month, telling The Times that although she didn’t handle Garcia’s case personally, she felt the deal was appropriate given the evidence examined by prosecutors. She declined to detail the reasons for the plea but cautioned that video “doesn’t tell the whole story sometimes.”
Lacey also declined to say whether pending criminal charges filed against Alford influenced her office’s decision. Court records show that Alford, 24, was arrested last year and faces charges including pimping, rape and assault with a deadly weapon. He has pleaded not guilty and remains in custody.
Assault cases against on-duty law enforcement officers often prove difficult for prosecutors, not least because the law generally gives police wide latitude to use force. In December, a jury acquitted an LAPD officer accused of using excessive force when he repeatedly struck a man with a baton while detaining him near Staples Center in 2012.
But former LAPD Officer Mary O’Callaghan served about 7 ½ months in jail after a jury convicted her last year of assault under color of authority. Prosecutors accused her of kicking a woman in the crotch during an arrest in South L.A. The victim, whose assault was captured on a patrol car camera, later died.
Officers charged with felony assault often avoided jail time when they negotiated plea deals with prosecutors rather than risk a trial, according to a Times review of court and district attorney records.
In 2013, for example, Sheriff’s Deputy Matthew John Funicello was sentenced to three years of probation and ordered to undergo counseling after he pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor count of assault under color of authority. Funicello, who was originally charged with a felony, had been accused of punching a 19-year-old man several times.
Since Alford’s arrest, Garcia has been ordered to stay at home, an LAPD spokesman said. He was relieved of duty without pay in March and is now awaiting what is known as a Board of Rights hearing, in which a three-person panel decides disciplinary cases for officers who usually face termination or lengthy suspensions.
The spokesman said the three other officers involved are no longer with the department, but did not elaborate. Johnson confirmed that the officers weren’t with the department “as a result of this incident.”
The events leading up to the assault charge against Garcia began shortly after noon on Oct. 16, 2014. Alford previously told The Times he was riding his bicycle along Avalon Boulevard when a car pulled up and a man yelled at him to stop. Someone grabbed the back of his bike, he said, so he jumped off and ran.
Authorities later said police were investigating a robbery and that Alford matched the description of the suspect.
After a short chase, two police officers caught up to Alford. The video shows one officer swinging his baton at Alford, who ducks and moves to the ground. Alford gets on his stomach, spreads his arms out and starts to move them behind his back as the officers grab his hands to cuff them.
Then a police car rushes up. The video shows Garcia getting out and running directly toward Alford before delivering the blows.
Garcia and another officer told investigators that Alford refused their orders and resisted after he was on the ground, according to a report from Beck made public last fall. Garcia said he punched and elbowed Alford to “cause Alford discomfort” and later used his knee to hit him because he thought Alford was reaching toward his shorts for a weapon.
After viewing the video, Beck concluded the officer’s actions were not reasonable “given Alford’s limited and unapparent resistance,” his report said. The chief and Police Commission determined Garcia violated department rules during the arrest. Seven months later, prosecutors charged him with assault.
At the time, Beck told reporters that he understood the public interest in the video but insisted that releasing the recording could jeopardize the criminal case against Garcia. After the officer agreed to his plea deal with prosecutors, The Times requested a copy of the recording from the LAPD under the California Public Records Act.
Last week, the LAPD denied that petition, saying it considered the video an investigative record exempt from disclosure. A day later, Superior Court Judge William N. Sterling granted The Times’ request for the video.
Kate Mather
August 22, 2016, 7:45 PM
The video shows a Los Angeles police officer rushing toward the middle of the South L.A. street where two officers were holding a man on the ground.
Officer Richard Garcia swings his right leg and kicks the man hard near his head. Over the next 10 seconds, the video shows Garcia knee the man in the back, and elbow and punch him in the head.
As the other officers stand up and move away, Garcia presses his knee into the man’s back for more than two minutes, stopping only when other officers come to help pick up the handcuffed man and drag him toward a patrol car.
For nearly two years, the video of the October 2014 arrest has been repeatedly cited by police and prosecutors as they denounced Garcia’s actions, sought discipline against him and charged him with felony assault. But the department refused to make the recording public, even after prosecutors agreed in May to a plea deal that spared Garcia jail time.
The Times, however, obtained a three-minute recording of the arrest under an order from an L.A. County Superior Court judge. The video had been introduced as evidence in the criminal case against Garcia.
Clinton Alford Jr.’s arrest mirrored similar video-recorded encounters between African Americans and officers across the country that have prompted heated criticism. Whether to release such recordings has become a crucial issue, particularly as departments add more cameras on officers’ uniforms and in their patrol cars as a way to build public trust.
The LAPD generally does not make those recordings public, a position that has been criticized as the department deploys thousands of body cameras to officers. Chief Charlie Beck, who has said he was shocked by the video of Garcia’s actions, has also argued that releasing the videos outside of court could jeopardize criminal and disciplinary investigations, and could violate the privacy of people caught on camera.
The video of Alford’s arrest was captured by a security camera at a nearby factory and has been a key piece of evidence against Garcia.
The officer told LAPD investigators that he kicked Alford in the shoulder and used other force to help control him as he resisted police. His attorney has said his client used a reasonable level of force and never should have been prosecuted.
At a preliminary hearing in December, attorney Robert Rico argued that one of Alford’s hands was under his body and that he “still posed a threat,” according to court transcripts.
The prosecutor, however, disagreed.
“From the get-go, Mr. Alford — you can see in the video — does not threaten the officers in any way, shape or form,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Oscar Plascencia told the judge.
Alford’s hands are obscured during about half of the video by the two officers who held him down, including when Garcia strikes him. After the other officers move away, Alford barely moves as Garcia presses his knee into Alford’s back.
Garcia is the only officer seen on the video punching, elbowing or slamming into Alford. The recording shows another officer later kick at Alford’s legs to separate them, then stand on Alford’s ankles — a move Beck also criticized.
A woman who worked at the factory where the camera was mounted testified in court that she was alarmed by what she saw that day. Citlali Alvarado was inside the building, near a monitor showing the recording, when she saw an officer kick and elbow a man on the ground.
“I didn’t think it was a proper action,” Alvarado said. “The victim was already held down.”
Soon after, a handful of officers came into the factory and asked whether there were any cameras, Alvarado testified.
Two of the officers laughed as they watched the video, Alvarado said. Garcia faced up to three years in jail if convicted of the felony assault charge. Earlier this year, prosecutors quietly agreed to a deal that allowed him to plead no contest and avoid jail time if he completes community service, follows all laws, stays away from Alford and donates $500 to a charity by late May 2017.
Under the agreement, Garcia, 35, could then enter a new plea to a misdemeanor charge that would replace the felony and would be placed on two years of probation. If he doesn’t appear in court, he could be sentenced to jail.
Some have criticized the move as too lenient, including those who saw the video for the first time Monday.
“If this encounter didn’t result in more serious criminal penalties, what would?” said Peter Bibring, a senior staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California. “It raises serious questions whether the D.A. — even in those cases where they file charges — [is] being vigorous enough to hold the officers accountable.”
Matt Johnson, the president of the Police Commission, the civilian panel that oversees the LAPD, said that what he saw was “not only out of policy, but unlawful and at odds with our mission to build more trust between the LAPD and communities of color.”
“I am personally disappointed that Mr. Garcia is not going to be serving jail time and will have the opportunity to have his conviction reduced to a misdemeanor,” Johnson said in a statement.
Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey declined an interview request through a spokeswoman Monday. She defended the agreement earlier this month, telling The Times that although she didn’t handle Garcia’s case personally, she felt the deal was appropriate given the evidence examined by prosecutors. She declined to detail the reasons for the plea but cautioned that video “doesn’t tell the whole story sometimes.”
Lacey also declined to say whether pending criminal charges filed against Alford influenced her office’s decision. Court records show that Alford, 24, was arrested last year and faces charges including pimping, rape and assault with a deadly weapon. He has pleaded not guilty and remains in custody.
Assault cases against on-duty law enforcement officers often prove difficult for prosecutors, not least because the law generally gives police wide latitude to use force. In December, a jury acquitted an LAPD officer accused of using excessive force when he repeatedly struck a man with a baton while detaining him near Staples Center in 2012.
But former LAPD Officer Mary O’Callaghan served about 7 ½ months in jail after a jury convicted her last year of assault under color of authority. Prosecutors accused her of kicking a woman in the crotch during an arrest in South L.A. The victim, whose assault was captured on a patrol car camera, later died.
Officers charged with felony assault often avoided jail time when they negotiated plea deals with prosecutors rather than risk a trial, according to a Times review of court and district attorney records.
In 2013, for example, Sheriff’s Deputy Matthew John Funicello was sentenced to three years of probation and ordered to undergo counseling after he pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor count of assault under color of authority. Funicello, who was originally charged with a felony, had been accused of punching a 19-year-old man several times.
Since Alford’s arrest, Garcia has been ordered to stay at home, an LAPD spokesman said. He was relieved of duty without pay in March and is now awaiting what is known as a Board of Rights hearing, in which a three-person panel decides disciplinary cases for officers who usually face termination or lengthy suspensions.
The spokesman said the three other officers involved are no longer with the department, but did not elaborate. Johnson confirmed that the officers weren’t with the department “as a result of this incident.”
The events leading up to the assault charge against Garcia began shortly after noon on Oct. 16, 2014. Alford previously told The Times he was riding his bicycle along Avalon Boulevard when a car pulled up and a man yelled at him to stop. Someone grabbed the back of his bike, he said, so he jumped off and ran.
Authorities later said police were investigating a robbery and that Alford matched the description of the suspect.
After a short chase, two police officers caught up to Alford. The video shows one officer swinging his baton at Alford, who ducks and moves to the ground. Alford gets on his stomach, spreads his arms out and starts to move them behind his back as the officers grab his hands to cuff them.
Then a police car rushes up. The video shows Garcia getting out and running directly toward Alford before delivering the blows.
Garcia and another officer told investigators that Alford refused their orders and resisted after he was on the ground, according to a report from Beck made public last fall. Garcia said he punched and elbowed Alford to “cause Alford discomfort” and later used his knee to hit him because he thought Alford was reaching toward his shorts for a weapon.
After viewing the video, Beck concluded the officer’s actions were not reasonable “given Alford’s limited and unapparent resistance,” his report said. The chief and Police Commission determined Garcia violated department rules during the arrest. Seven months later, prosecutors charged him with assault.
At the time, Beck told reporters that he understood the public interest in the video but insisted that releasing the recording could jeopardize the criminal case against Garcia. After the officer agreed to his plea deal with prosecutors, The Times requested a copy of the recording from the LAPD under the California Public Records Act.
Last week, the LAPD denied that petition, saying it considered the video an investigative record exempt from disclosure. A day later, Superior Court Judge William N. Sterling granted The Times’ request for the video.
Chalo
100 TW
"Who are you gonna believe, me or your lying eyes?"
The fingers
10 TW
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new...is-bike-and-then-pulling-him-up-against-fence :x
Police are looking into a video in which an Auckland police officer was filmed pushing a teenager off his bike and then hauling him up against a fence.
The footage, which was posted on Facebook yesterday by Cee La Tonga Taumoefolau, shows a group of teenagers walking along a footpath, believed to be in Mangere over the weekend.
Some distance behind them was another group of teenagers. One of them appeared to be riding all over a road on his bike.
In the extended footage on Cee La Tonga Taumoefolau's Facebook page, that teenager appeared to have a megaphone-looking speaker attached to the handlebars of his bike.
A marked police car then pulls up next to the teenagers in the distance.
Police are heard in the video telling them to "get off the road and go home".
The teenager recording the video then films a police car pulling up next to them.
Two officers in uniform get out of the car and tell the teenagers who were riding all over the road to get off their bikes.
One officer is then filmed pushing a teenager off his bike.
Others around the scene are then heard saying, "record it, record it".
Since the video was posted early yesterday morning, it has been viewed 31,000 times and had nearly 600 shares on Facebook.
Matthew Lamar, who commented on the video and appeared to be the one who was pushed off his bike, said police caught him for some reason and told him to "hurry home".
"Then when they left, I jumped on my bike and saw me, then the man said 'get off the road' and 'f*** off home'," Lamar wrote.
"Then I whispered, just f*** off... then they stopped in front of me, the cops got out of the car, threw me down off the bike, picked me up, threw me against the fence and cuffed me.
"No matter who was there, they can't f*** with the police."
Police say they've been made aware of the video and are looking into the circumstances surrounding the incident.
Counties Manukau West Area Commander Inspector Jason Hewett said police received multiple calls on Saturday regarding a "group of youths acting in a disorderly manner" on both Savill Drive and Alderman Place in Mangere.
"There were reports of excessive noise, alleged fighting and of cyclists weaving in and out of traffic which caused fear for their safety," he said.
"Police have concerns about what can be seen in the video posted on Facebook and accordingly have begun a full investigation into the incident.
"We appreciate the high level of interest however we cannot comment any further until the investigation is complete."
http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/836...Auckland-police-officer-pushing-teen-off-bike
A video has been posted on Facebook which appears to show a police officer pushing a teenager off his bicycle and into a fence.
Cee La Tonga Taumoefolau posted the video on Facebook around midnight on Saturday.
It has since been viewed 18,000 times and has drawn more than 160 comments.
The teenager in the video, 13-year-old Matthew Lamar, said he and his friends had been having a music "battle" in the street in Mangere Bridge, south Auckland.
Matthew said he had turned off his speaker earlier because the battery was dead.
"I jumped on my bike and I was on my way home."
He said he had exchanged curse words with the officer before the incident.
"The cop got out of the car, then he threw me down off the bike. Then he picked me up and threw me against the fence and cuffed me."
Alex Eliu witnessed the incident and said Matthew had been riding on the road.
The police officer asked Matthew to get off the road and Matthew swore at him, Eliu said.
"That's when they pulled him over and said 'get off your bike'. He didn't listen, so the officer threw him off."
Matthew was handcuffed and put in the back of a police car for a short time.
"They ... told him to listen the first time and don't swear back. Then they let him go," Eliu said.
A police spokesperson said the police were looking into the incident.
"Until the full picture is established, we are unable to comment on what may have taken place," the spokesperson said.
"It is important to note that as this video appears to start part-way through communication between police and the young person, the full context and circumstances leading up to the event are yet to be determined."
Matthew said he was uninjured in the incident.
Police are looking into a video in which an Auckland police officer was filmed pushing a teenager off his bike and then hauling him up against a fence.
The footage, which was posted on Facebook yesterday by Cee La Tonga Taumoefolau, shows a group of teenagers walking along a footpath, believed to be in Mangere over the weekend.
Some distance behind them was another group of teenagers. One of them appeared to be riding all over a road on his bike.
In the extended footage on Cee La Tonga Taumoefolau's Facebook page, that teenager appeared to have a megaphone-looking speaker attached to the handlebars of his bike.
A marked police car then pulls up next to the teenagers in the distance.
Police are heard in the video telling them to "get off the road and go home".
The teenager recording the video then films a police car pulling up next to them.
Two officers in uniform get out of the car and tell the teenagers who were riding all over the road to get off their bikes.
One officer is then filmed pushing a teenager off his bike.
Others around the scene are then heard saying, "record it, record it".
Since the video was posted early yesterday morning, it has been viewed 31,000 times and had nearly 600 shares on Facebook.
Matthew Lamar, who commented on the video and appeared to be the one who was pushed off his bike, said police caught him for some reason and told him to "hurry home".
"Then when they left, I jumped on my bike and saw me, then the man said 'get off the road' and 'f*** off home'," Lamar wrote.
"Then I whispered, just f*** off... then they stopped in front of me, the cops got out of the car, threw me down off the bike, picked me up, threw me against the fence and cuffed me.
"No matter who was there, they can't f*** with the police."
Police say they've been made aware of the video and are looking into the circumstances surrounding the incident.
Counties Manukau West Area Commander Inspector Jason Hewett said police received multiple calls on Saturday regarding a "group of youths acting in a disorderly manner" on both Savill Drive and Alderman Place in Mangere.
"There were reports of excessive noise, alleged fighting and of cyclists weaving in and out of traffic which caused fear for their safety," he said.
"Police have concerns about what can be seen in the video posted on Facebook and accordingly have begun a full investigation into the incident.
"We appreciate the high level of interest however we cannot comment any further until the investigation is complete."
http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/836...Auckland-police-officer-pushing-teen-off-bike
A video has been posted on Facebook which appears to show a police officer pushing a teenager off his bicycle and into a fence.
Cee La Tonga Taumoefolau posted the video on Facebook around midnight on Saturday.
It has since been viewed 18,000 times and has drawn more than 160 comments.
The teenager in the video, 13-year-old Matthew Lamar, said he and his friends had been having a music "battle" in the street in Mangere Bridge, south Auckland.
Matthew said he had turned off his speaker earlier because the battery was dead.
"I jumped on my bike and I was on my way home."
He said he had exchanged curse words with the officer before the incident.
"The cop got out of the car, then he threw me down off the bike. Then he picked me up and threw me against the fence and cuffed me."
Alex Eliu witnessed the incident and said Matthew had been riding on the road.
The police officer asked Matthew to get off the road and Matthew swore at him, Eliu said.
"That's when they pulled him over and said 'get off your bike'. He didn't listen, so the officer threw him off."
Matthew was handcuffed and put in the back of a police car for a short time.
"They ... told him to listen the first time and don't swear back. Then they let him go," Eliu said.
A police spokesperson said the police were looking into the incident.
"Until the full picture is established, we are unable to comment on what may have taken place," the spokesperson said.
"It is important to note that as this video appears to start part-way through communication between police and the young person, the full context and circumstances leading up to the event are yet to be determined."
Matthew said he was uninjured in the incident.
The fingers
10 TW
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/swihart-727579-police-homeless.html
ANA – A 32-year-old man has died from his injuries after being shot by police on Aug. 1 in a struggle outside the Orange County Superior Court building in downtown, police said Wednesday.
Richard Gene Swihart, a local transient, was near the Plaza of the Flags at about 9:30 a.m. when approached by two Santa Ana officers from the Civic Center Patrol Unit. Witnesses said he had no shirt on and was riding a bicycle when stopped.
Santa Ana police has said Swihart became hostile and got into a physical altercation with one of the officers. Swihart tried to grab the officer’s gun, prompting the officer’s partner to fire multiple rounds, striking Swihart in the upper torso, police have said.
Swihart was taken to Orange County Global Medical Center in Santa Ana where he remain in critical condition until he died on Aug. 14, police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna said Wednesday.
Swihart was a regular in the area frequented by homeless people.
Longtime friend Gabriel Lopez, 29, remembered Swihart, a father of two, as an upbeat “comedian” always cracking jokes.
Swihart grew up in foster homes and had lived at the Orangewood Children's Home in Orange, Lopez said. A brother and his father died in recent years.
Lopez said Swihart had been financially stable but turned to drugs after his brother’s death, eventually becoming homeless: “The drugs just took over.”
The Orange County District Attorney’s Office is investigating the incident, as it does with all officer-involved shootings.
There has been growing concern over the number of homeless people in the the downtown Civic Center. Local homeless advocates estimate the number has grown by about 100 people to 500 during the past year.
ANA – A 32-year-old man has died from his injuries after being shot by police on Aug. 1 in a struggle outside the Orange County Superior Court building in downtown, police said Wednesday.
Richard Gene Swihart, a local transient, was near the Plaza of the Flags at about 9:30 a.m. when approached by two Santa Ana officers from the Civic Center Patrol Unit. Witnesses said he had no shirt on and was riding a bicycle when stopped.
Santa Ana police has said Swihart became hostile and got into a physical altercation with one of the officers. Swihart tried to grab the officer’s gun, prompting the officer’s partner to fire multiple rounds, striking Swihart in the upper torso, police have said.
Swihart was taken to Orange County Global Medical Center in Santa Ana where he remain in critical condition until he died on Aug. 14, police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna said Wednesday.
Swihart was a regular in the area frequented by homeless people.
Longtime friend Gabriel Lopez, 29, remembered Swihart, a father of two, as an upbeat “comedian” always cracking jokes.
Swihart grew up in foster homes and had lived at the Orangewood Children's Home in Orange, Lopez said. A brother and his father died in recent years.
Lopez said Swihart had been financially stable but turned to drugs after his brother’s death, eventually becoming homeless: “The drugs just took over.”
The Orange County District Attorney’s Office is investigating the incident, as it does with all officer-involved shootings.
There has been growing concern over the number of homeless people in the the downtown Civic Center. Local homeless advocates estimate the number has grown by about 100 people to 500 during the past year.
The fingers
10 TW
http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle...ers-over-brutalizing-her-in-mall-parking-lot/
Monique Tillman, 17, is seeking unspecified damages from the officer, the private security firm he worked for and the owners of Tacoma Mall.
By
Christine Clarridge
Seattle Times staff reporter
Even though Monique Tillman, now 17, knew what had happened to her during an encounter with a Tacoma police officer in a mall parking lot two years ago, seeing the video for the first time was staggering.
“I was absolutely in shock, anger and disbelief,” said Tillman, who is black, about the video that shows the white officer pulling her around by her hair, throwing her to the ground, tasing and arresting her.
“I feel like I was targeted because I am a person of color,” she said. “It was frustrating because I knew I didn’t do anything wrong, but I couldn’t stop them.”
Tillman filed a lawsuit in Pierce County Superior Court seeking unspecified damages from the officer, the private security firm he worked for and the owners of the mall. The officer couldn’t be reached for comment Wednesday, while the other parties declined to comment.
The suit is being filed at a time of rising pressure on police departments to increase officer accountability for the use of force, and amid a burgeoning Black Lives Matter movement that emerged after a series of killings of black people by white police officers in cities across the country.
In Seattle, community members most recently questioned police actions in the death of Che Taylor, a black man who was fatally shot by white officers in Wedgwood in February.
Tillman was 15 years old on May 24, 2014, when she and her brother dropped off some clothes at a consignment shop, had a meal at McDonald’s and then headed home at about 5 p.m., cutting through the Tacoma Mall parking lot near their house, her attorney said.
While she was riding, officer Jared Williams pulled his Tacoma Police Department-issued patrol vehicle behind the wheel of her bike, according to the lawsuit filed last week.She turned around and asked him what was going on and why was “he trying to hit me with his car,” she said in a telephone interview on Wednesday.
According to her attorney, Vito de la Cruz, Tillman knew her rights and knew that police are required to have probable cause before detaining citizens.
In a video taken by a mall surveillance camera, Tillman is seen talking to Williams and another security employee, gesticulating with her arms and pointing.
Williams, who was working off-duty for mall security at the time, told Tillman that she was causing a disturbance and was going to be “trespassed,” or banned, from the mall and could be arrested if she were to return, according to the suit.
As the officer appears to take a notebook from his chest pocket, Tillman can be seen in the video trying to pedal away.
The suit claims Williams then “erupted and began physically assaulting and brutalizing” Tillman.
The lawsuit says he tossed her around “like a child’s doll, slamming her into parked vehicles, forcibly shoving his forearm into her chest, grabbing her by the hair and body-slamming her into the pavement,” the suit claims.
In the video, it also appears that Williams was holding Tillman against a vehicle by her throat for a time.
Once she was immobilized, the suit claims, Williams tased Tillman and arrested her.
She was charged in juvenile court with resisting arrest and assaulting an officer. Williams claimed she had tried to kick him, de la Cruz said.
He said the charges against Tillman were dismissed by a judge who viewed the video and found no evidence that the officer was investigating a crime when Tillman was stopped and no evidence that she assaulted Williams.
Tillman’s brother, who is one year older, was also arrested and cited for bicycling without a helmet, said de la Cruz.
The owner of the mall, Simon Property Group, and the security firm for which Williams worked, Universal Protection Services, both declined to comment on the pending litigation.
De la Cruz said before the encounter with Williams, Tillman was a mostly-A student who had respect for authority figures.
“She now has an utter lack of the trust that a child should have for police who are sworn to protect, serve and not abuse,” said de la Cruz. “She looks with great suspicion at police officers driving down the street and wonders, ‘Am I going to be stopped again?’ ”
Tillman, who is now studying digital media at Bates Technical College, said she still sometimes has a hard time believing what happened.
“You hear about this kind of thing happening across the nation,” she said, “but it is also happening right here.”
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/girl-bike-sues-off-duty-officer-throws-41942385
A teenager rode her bicycle through a mall parking lot when an off-duty officer working for a private security company pulled her down, threw her to the ground and shocked her with a stun gun.
Caught on surveillance video , the 2014 encounter with the girl, who is black, drew outrage. She initially was charged with assaulting an officer before the case was dropped. Now, she's targeting his Washington state police department in a newly expanded lawsuit.
It claims the Tacoma department's policies lead officers to attack residents, including minors such Monique Tillman, then 15, and violate their civil rights. Police supervisors routinely approve "abusive, excessive and unnecessary uses of force" and retain abusive officers, according to the expanded suit filed last week.
The original claim targeted Officer Jared Williams, who is white; the mall's owner; and the security company. It grew to include the department after it acknowledged that the officer acted within the scope of his police duties despite being paid by a private employer, said Tillman's lawyer, Vito de la Cruz.
The lawsuit has not affected the department's policy of allowing officers to work for outside companies, a police spokeswoman said Tuesday. Off-duty officers wear their uniforms on those jobs and are officially police while they work private security or an event, she said.
Police agencies across the country have different policies for off-duty work, experts say.
The suit comes as law enforcement agencies nationwide are under fire for their treatment of minorities and as officers face increasing threats. Police shootings have sparked protests, recently from 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, and retaliation from a man who killed five Dallas officers in a July sniper attack.
In the Washington case, the girl's attorney said they believe the officer's actions were racially motivated that she now fears law enforcement. Tillman declined an interview Wednesday, de la Cruz said.
Officer Williams still works for the department, but it does not comment on pending litigation, said Officer Loretta Cool, a spokeswoman. The Associated Press' attempts to reach Williams were unsuccessful.
Tillman, then a 10th-grader, and her brother, Eric Branch, 16, were heading home from a fast food restaurant and cut across the Tacoma Mall parking lot on their bicycles on May 24, 2014.
Williams, who was working for mall security, pulled up behind them in his police cruiser with lights flashing and an air horn blasting. Another security officer pulled up.
Tillman asked Williams why they were being stopped, and he said they were "causing a disturbance" and trespassing, the complaint said. Police have since declined to clarify what that disturbance entailed.
As Williams took out a pad of paper, Tillman started to pedal away.
"Williams erupted and began brutalizing this 15-year-old girl," the complaint said.
The video shows Williams grabbing the girl off the bike and pushing her against a car. He then grabbed her hair and threw her to the ground.
He used his stun gun on her, "sending painful electric shocks" through her body, the lawsuit says.
Tillman's brother tried to help his sister, and Williams threatened him with the device, the complaint said. The other security officer grabbed or shoved the boy to the ground and handcuffed him. Both siblings were booked into a juvenile facility.
Tillman was charged with assaulting an officer, resisting arrest and obstruction, but the counts were later dismissed, her lawyer said.
Her lawsuit alleges that the department fails to train, investigate or discipline its officers who use force, so it's become a common practice to the point that it's encouraged.
Geoffrey Alpert, a professor of criminology and criminal justice at the University of South Carolina, said an officer's decision to use force should depend on how much the suspect resists and whether the suspect is a threat.
Police departments should keep track of how officers assess those factors by looking at the number of complaints they receive, he said.
"He needs to explain what threat she posed to him to justify the use of force," Alpert said. "The question becomes what are they doing to manage the use of force? If they're doing nothing, it may appear they are encouraging excessive force."
The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages and asks the court to order the department to limit the use of reasonable force and discipline officers who use excessive force.
Monique Tillman, 17, is seeking unspecified damages from the officer, the private security firm he worked for and the owners of Tacoma Mall.
By
Christine Clarridge
Seattle Times staff reporter
Even though Monique Tillman, now 17, knew what had happened to her during an encounter with a Tacoma police officer in a mall parking lot two years ago, seeing the video for the first time was staggering.
“I was absolutely in shock, anger and disbelief,” said Tillman, who is black, about the video that shows the white officer pulling her around by her hair, throwing her to the ground, tasing and arresting her.
“I feel like I was targeted because I am a person of color,” she said. “It was frustrating because I knew I didn’t do anything wrong, but I couldn’t stop them.”
Tillman filed a lawsuit in Pierce County Superior Court seeking unspecified damages from the officer, the private security firm he worked for and the owners of the mall. The officer couldn’t be reached for comment Wednesday, while the other parties declined to comment.
The suit is being filed at a time of rising pressure on police departments to increase officer accountability for the use of force, and amid a burgeoning Black Lives Matter movement that emerged after a series of killings of black people by white police officers in cities across the country.
In Seattle, community members most recently questioned police actions in the death of Che Taylor, a black man who was fatally shot by white officers in Wedgwood in February.
Tillman was 15 years old on May 24, 2014, when she and her brother dropped off some clothes at a consignment shop, had a meal at McDonald’s and then headed home at about 5 p.m., cutting through the Tacoma Mall parking lot near their house, her attorney said.
While she was riding, officer Jared Williams pulled his Tacoma Police Department-issued patrol vehicle behind the wheel of her bike, according to the lawsuit filed last week.She turned around and asked him what was going on and why was “he trying to hit me with his car,” she said in a telephone interview on Wednesday.
According to her attorney, Vito de la Cruz, Tillman knew her rights and knew that police are required to have probable cause before detaining citizens.
In a video taken by a mall surveillance camera, Tillman is seen talking to Williams and another security employee, gesticulating with her arms and pointing.
Williams, who was working off-duty for mall security at the time, told Tillman that she was causing a disturbance and was going to be “trespassed,” or banned, from the mall and could be arrested if she were to return, according to the suit.
As the officer appears to take a notebook from his chest pocket, Tillman can be seen in the video trying to pedal away.
The suit claims Williams then “erupted and began physically assaulting and brutalizing” Tillman.
The lawsuit says he tossed her around “like a child’s doll, slamming her into parked vehicles, forcibly shoving his forearm into her chest, grabbing her by the hair and body-slamming her into the pavement,” the suit claims.
In the video, it also appears that Williams was holding Tillman against a vehicle by her throat for a time.
Once she was immobilized, the suit claims, Williams tased Tillman and arrested her.
She was charged in juvenile court with resisting arrest and assaulting an officer. Williams claimed she had tried to kick him, de la Cruz said.
He said the charges against Tillman were dismissed by a judge who viewed the video and found no evidence that the officer was investigating a crime when Tillman was stopped and no evidence that she assaulted Williams.
Tillman’s brother, who is one year older, was also arrested and cited for bicycling without a helmet, said de la Cruz.
The owner of the mall, Simon Property Group, and the security firm for which Williams worked, Universal Protection Services, both declined to comment on the pending litigation.
De la Cruz said before the encounter with Williams, Tillman was a mostly-A student who had respect for authority figures.
“She now has an utter lack of the trust that a child should have for police who are sworn to protect, serve and not abuse,” said de la Cruz. “She looks with great suspicion at police officers driving down the street and wonders, ‘Am I going to be stopped again?’ ”
Tillman, who is now studying digital media at Bates Technical College, said she still sometimes has a hard time believing what happened.
“You hear about this kind of thing happening across the nation,” she said, “but it is also happening right here.”
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/girl-bike-sues-off-duty-officer-throws-41942385
A teenager rode her bicycle through a mall parking lot when an off-duty officer working for a private security company pulled her down, threw her to the ground and shocked her with a stun gun.
Caught on surveillance video , the 2014 encounter with the girl, who is black, drew outrage. She initially was charged with assaulting an officer before the case was dropped. Now, she's targeting his Washington state police department in a newly expanded lawsuit.
It claims the Tacoma department's policies lead officers to attack residents, including minors such Monique Tillman, then 15, and violate their civil rights. Police supervisors routinely approve "abusive, excessive and unnecessary uses of force" and retain abusive officers, according to the expanded suit filed last week.
The original claim targeted Officer Jared Williams, who is white; the mall's owner; and the security company. It grew to include the department after it acknowledged that the officer acted within the scope of his police duties despite being paid by a private employer, said Tillman's lawyer, Vito de la Cruz.
The lawsuit has not affected the department's policy of allowing officers to work for outside companies, a police spokeswoman said Tuesday. Off-duty officers wear their uniforms on those jobs and are officially police while they work private security or an event, she said.
Police agencies across the country have different policies for off-duty work, experts say.
The suit comes as law enforcement agencies nationwide are under fire for their treatment of minorities and as officers face increasing threats. Police shootings have sparked protests, recently from 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, and retaliation from a man who killed five Dallas officers in a July sniper attack.
In the Washington case, the girl's attorney said they believe the officer's actions were racially motivated that she now fears law enforcement. Tillman declined an interview Wednesday, de la Cruz said.
Officer Williams still works for the department, but it does not comment on pending litigation, said Officer Loretta Cool, a spokeswoman. The Associated Press' attempts to reach Williams were unsuccessful.
Tillman, then a 10th-grader, and her brother, Eric Branch, 16, were heading home from a fast food restaurant and cut across the Tacoma Mall parking lot on their bicycles on May 24, 2014.
Williams, who was working for mall security, pulled up behind them in his police cruiser with lights flashing and an air horn blasting. Another security officer pulled up.
Tillman asked Williams why they were being stopped, and he said they were "causing a disturbance" and trespassing, the complaint said. Police have since declined to clarify what that disturbance entailed.
As Williams took out a pad of paper, Tillman started to pedal away.
"Williams erupted and began brutalizing this 15-year-old girl," the complaint said.
The video shows Williams grabbing the girl off the bike and pushing her against a car. He then grabbed her hair and threw her to the ground.
He used his stun gun on her, "sending painful electric shocks" through her body, the lawsuit says.
Tillman's brother tried to help his sister, and Williams threatened him with the device, the complaint said. The other security officer grabbed or shoved the boy to the ground and handcuffed him. Both siblings were booked into a juvenile facility.
Tillman was charged with assaulting an officer, resisting arrest and obstruction, but the counts were later dismissed, her lawyer said.
Her lawsuit alleges that the department fails to train, investigate or discipline its officers who use force, so it's become a common practice to the point that it's encouraged.
Geoffrey Alpert, a professor of criminology and criminal justice at the University of South Carolina, said an officer's decision to use force should depend on how much the suspect resists and whether the suspect is a threat.
Police departments should keep track of how officers assess those factors by looking at the number of complaints they receive, he said.
"He needs to explain what threat she posed to him to justify the use of force," Alpert said. "The question becomes what are they doing to manage the use of force? If they're doing nothing, it may appear they are encouraging excessive force."
The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages and asks the court to order the department to limit the use of reasonable force and discipline officers who use excessive force.
The fingers
10 TW
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_66zIEL0JrE :x
Published on Sep 22, 2016
LAPD License Plate number 1278673 Yells "Get to the right" or "Keep to the right" while using a non-shareable lane on Wilshire Blvd and Highland around 8:30pm on Sept 22nd, 2016. LAPD is not running with lights or sirens and appears to be weaving throughout traffic.
Published on Sep 22, 2016
LAPD License Plate number 1278673 Yells "Get to the right" or "Keep to the right" while using a non-shareable lane on Wilshire Blvd and Highland around 8:30pm on Sept 22nd, 2016. LAPD is not running with lights or sirens and appears to be weaving throughout traffic.
The fingers
10 TW
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articl...-black-girl-after-she-falls-off-her-bike.html
OVER THE TOP
Cops Pepper-Spray Girl Who Fell Off Bike
A 15-year-old girl crashed into a car and tried to refuse medical care, which Maryland police said is an arrestable offense so they roughed her up and took her away.
KELLY WEILL
09.22.16 11:32 AM ET
When a teenage girl riding her bike collided with a car, cops didn’t simply take her to the hospital but instead handcuffed her, pepper sprayed her, and threw her in the back of their squad car.
A bystander’s cell phone footage shows the 15-year-old girl from Hagerstown, Maryland being loaded into a police car Sunday. At this point the girl, a minor whose name is being withheld, ask to speak with “Zack,” an officer she says is black, unlike her arresting officers who are white. Then, while the girl is handcuffed in the back of the car, police are seen firing pepper spray at her through the window.
“I can’t breathe!” the girl screams.
Instead of taking the girl to the hospital like they initially told her, police took her to the police station for interrogation. But her lawyer said she never should have been in the squad car in the first place.
“She was flipped over in the air, came down hard on the pavement, was motionless there for at least 30 seconds,” attorney Robin Ficker told The Daily Beast. “Then she recovered, woke up and the ambulance came. She did not want to go with the strangers in the ambulance, she wanted to go to her home nearby. She got on her bike, started peddling away to go home, and a huge officer grabbed her off her bike without any warning whatsoever from behind.”
Body camera footage released by the Hagerstown Police shows the girl refusing to go with polic before an officer grabs her backpack. Then she is handcuffed and pushed against a brick wall while bystanders gather. “You let that badge go to your head,” one onlooker tells an officer.
While the officers had allegedly arrived on the scene to take the girl to the hospital, they began referring to her in criminal terms.
“We’re detaining you for incooperation with an investigation,” one officer says while the girl is forcibly cuffed.
Hagerstown Police told The Daily Beast that they were simultaneously investigating the girl’s bike crash while attempting to take her to the hospital.
“The reason she was placed in custody, is first and foremost we were investigating an accident she was involved in,” Hagerstown Police Captain Paul Kifer told The Daily Beast. “She attempted to leave on a bicycle … she refused to give ay info on who she was.”
Even if the officers had wanted to take her to the hospital, they had no legal grounds for doing so forcibly, Ficker said.
“They said ‘you have to come in, you can’t refuse treatment.’ Well there’s no Maryland law that says you can’t refuse treatment,” he told The Daily Beast. “They certainly don’t arrest every Jehovah’s Witness that refuses treatment. There’s no law that says you can’t refuse treatment.”
When bystanders began arguing with police,
“What happens when she’s like ‘I’m fine,’ and has a brain injury afterwards?” an officer says when an onlooker filming the event
Kifer said the girl’s detention was standard procedure.
“We’re not gonna let her go until she’s released to a parent or guardian,” he told The Daily Beast. “If we let her go and she goes around the corner and has an aneurism and dies, that’s on us.”
But Ficker said the force of the girl’s arrest contradicts the police argument that she required urgent treatment.
“Well if someone may have brain damage, why are you slamming her against a wall? Why are you putting her in a police car,” he said, “without a seatbelt, I might add, in violation of police policy.”
Even after police seat the handcuffed girl in the squad car, she refuses to pull her feet into the vehicle, body camera footage shows. Police fire pepper spray at her face from close range and slam the door while she is coughing and screaming. The car pulls away while the girl is still shouting and crying.
But police did not take her to a hospital, Ficker said. Instead, the girl was transported to the police station, where she was interrogated and charged with disorderly conduct, two counts of second degree assault, possession of marijuana and failure to obey a traffic device.
Ficker contends that the “flake” of marijuana found in the girl’s backpack was planted by police, a claim police adamantly deny.
“I categorically deny that,” Kifer said. “It’s absurd and offensive for an attorney to accuse law enforcement of planting anything.”
Police did not return a request for a copy of the arrest report. But Ficker says the official reason for the girl’s arrest, as listed in her medical report was not criminal at all.
“Police told the hospital that the reason she was arrested was not because she was refusing treatment, but because she wouldn’t give insurance information,” Ficker said. “Insurance was never mentioned, and furthermore, who expects a kid on a bike to have insurance information?”
“It’s ridiculous,” he added. “These cops are lying.”
OVER THE TOP
Cops Pepper-Spray Girl Who Fell Off Bike
A 15-year-old girl crashed into a car and tried to refuse medical care, which Maryland police said is an arrestable offense so they roughed her up and took her away.
KELLY WEILL
09.22.16 11:32 AM ET
When a teenage girl riding her bike collided with a car, cops didn’t simply take her to the hospital but instead handcuffed her, pepper sprayed her, and threw her in the back of their squad car.
A bystander’s cell phone footage shows the 15-year-old girl from Hagerstown, Maryland being loaded into a police car Sunday. At this point the girl, a minor whose name is being withheld, ask to speak with “Zack,” an officer she says is black, unlike her arresting officers who are white. Then, while the girl is handcuffed in the back of the car, police are seen firing pepper spray at her through the window.
“I can’t breathe!” the girl screams.
Instead of taking the girl to the hospital like they initially told her, police took her to the police station for interrogation. But her lawyer said she never should have been in the squad car in the first place.
“She was flipped over in the air, came down hard on the pavement, was motionless there for at least 30 seconds,” attorney Robin Ficker told The Daily Beast. “Then she recovered, woke up and the ambulance came. She did not want to go with the strangers in the ambulance, she wanted to go to her home nearby. She got on her bike, started peddling away to go home, and a huge officer grabbed her off her bike without any warning whatsoever from behind.”
Body camera footage released by the Hagerstown Police shows the girl refusing to go with polic before an officer grabs her backpack. Then she is handcuffed and pushed against a brick wall while bystanders gather. “You let that badge go to your head,” one onlooker tells an officer.
While the officers had allegedly arrived on the scene to take the girl to the hospital, they began referring to her in criminal terms.
“We’re detaining you for incooperation with an investigation,” one officer says while the girl is forcibly cuffed.
Hagerstown Police told The Daily Beast that they were simultaneously investigating the girl’s bike crash while attempting to take her to the hospital.
“The reason she was placed in custody, is first and foremost we were investigating an accident she was involved in,” Hagerstown Police Captain Paul Kifer told The Daily Beast. “She attempted to leave on a bicycle … she refused to give ay info on who she was.”
Even if the officers had wanted to take her to the hospital, they had no legal grounds for doing so forcibly, Ficker said.
“They said ‘you have to come in, you can’t refuse treatment.’ Well there’s no Maryland law that says you can’t refuse treatment,” he told The Daily Beast. “They certainly don’t arrest every Jehovah’s Witness that refuses treatment. There’s no law that says you can’t refuse treatment.”
When bystanders began arguing with police,
“What happens when she’s like ‘I’m fine,’ and has a brain injury afterwards?” an officer says when an onlooker filming the event
Kifer said the girl’s detention was standard procedure.
“We’re not gonna let her go until she’s released to a parent or guardian,” he told The Daily Beast. “If we let her go and she goes around the corner and has an aneurism and dies, that’s on us.”
But Ficker said the force of the girl’s arrest contradicts the police argument that she required urgent treatment.
“Well if someone may have brain damage, why are you slamming her against a wall? Why are you putting her in a police car,” he said, “without a seatbelt, I might add, in violation of police policy.”
Even after police seat the handcuffed girl in the squad car, she refuses to pull her feet into the vehicle, body camera footage shows. Police fire pepper spray at her face from close range and slam the door while she is coughing and screaming. The car pulls away while the girl is still shouting and crying.
But police did not take her to a hospital, Ficker said. Instead, the girl was transported to the police station, where she was interrogated and charged with disorderly conduct, two counts of second degree assault, possession of marijuana and failure to obey a traffic device.
Ficker contends that the “flake” of marijuana found in the girl’s backpack was planted by police, a claim police adamantly deny.
“I categorically deny that,” Kifer said. “It’s absurd and offensive for an attorney to accuse law enforcement of planting anything.”
Police did not return a request for a copy of the arrest report. But Ficker says the official reason for the girl’s arrest, as listed in her medical report was not criminal at all.
“Police told the hospital that the reason she was arrested was not because she was refusing treatment, but because she wouldn’t give insurance information,” Ficker said. “Insurance was never mentioned, and furthermore, who expects a kid on a bike to have insurance information?”
“It’s ridiculous,” he added. “These cops are lying.”
There was obviously minimal damage to property and probably not enough to require a police investigation. The police should have been primarily concerned with the bicyclist's potential injuries. I think they should have handled their concerns for her health and safety in ways that didn't involve forcible hand-cuffing and then pepper-spraying while hand-cuffed.
Sure looks like the cops escalated their use of force inappropriately and then doubled-down on their poor judgement by pepper-spraying her so they could protect themselves from indignant witnesses by fleeing the scene. This is bolstered by the fact that they took her to the police station instead of the hospital. Protection of citizen rights doesn't seem to be their primary operative.
-------
Police are granted the authority to use force by those they would use force upon. Use 'Freedom of Information' laws to get a copy of your local PD's operation manual. Know what they're expected to do so that you can know what you should do. Advocate for your local secondary schools to teach the contents of the PD manual, or at least make sure the manual is publicly posted. Its unlikely the PD is motivated to do that for you.
Sure looks like the cops escalated their use of force inappropriately and then doubled-down on their poor judgement by pepper-spraying her so they could protect themselves from indignant witnesses by fleeing the scene. This is bolstered by the fact that they took her to the police station instead of the hospital. Protection of citizen rights doesn't seem to be their primary operative.
-------
Police are granted the authority to use force by those they would use force upon. Use 'Freedom of Information' laws to get a copy of your local PD's operation manual. Know what they're expected to do so that you can know what you should do. Advocate for your local secondary schools to teach the contents of the PD manual, or at least make sure the manual is publicly posted. Its unlikely the PD is motivated to do that for you.
The fingers
10 TW
http://www.sfgate.com/news/crime/article/Lawyer-Girl-pepper-sprayed-by-police-won-t-face-9683692.php
HAGERSTOWN, Md. (AP) — A 15-year-old Maryland girl who was handcuffed, pepper-sprayed and charged with assaulting police officers after her bicycle hit a car won't face court proceedings, community service or supervision by juvenile authorities under an agreement her lawyer announced Tuesday.
Attorney Robin Ficker said the girl has written a letter to the state Department of Juvenile Services apologizing for cursing at officers who struggled to detain her after she refused to identify herself or her parents.
The girl had been charged by police as a juvenile with two counts of second-degree assault, plus disorderly conduct, marijuana possession and a traffic violation.
The Sept. 18 incident, captured by police body cameras and cellphone video, prompted three days of demonstrations by people demanding police accountability in Hagerstown, a city of 40,000 about 70 miles west of Baltimore.
The Department of Juvenile Services could not confirm the agreement due to confidentiality laws regarding juvenile records, spokeswoman Audra Harrison said.
Police and city officials didn't immediately respond to phone calls and emails from The Associated Press. Police Chief Victor Brito has said his officers initially tried to de-escalate the situation, and then used appropriate force to get the kicking, cursing girl inside a cruiser and off to the police station so they could properly investigate the accident.
The girl refused medical care from paramedics at the accident scene. Her father later took her to an emergency room, where she was diagnosed with a possible concussion, according to a medical report.
Ficker wouldn't rule out a civil lawsuit against the city or police. He said the girl's parents have not taken any steps toward civil action, "but who knows what the future will hold."
In her letter, which Ficker provded to the AP, the girl apologized for her language and said she wasn't thinking clearly, having been briefly knocked unconscious in the collision.
"I was not brought up to speak that way. I have been taught to be respectful of everyone. I feel that if this accident had never happened I would have not spoken that way," she wrote.
A bystander's cellphone video shows officers forcefully flinging the struggling girl toward a building before handcuffing her. She and Ficker say she was slammed against the wall, but the camera angle misses the moment of impact. The video shows her a moment later, pressed face-first against the wall.
Ficker said the girl, a high-school sophomore, had no prior involvement with juvenile authorities.
"She is just to keep going to school as she's doing and not to get in any trouble," he said.
The dark-skinned girl has a white mother and black father, and all the officers involved are white, but race has not been raised as an issue in the case.
HAGERSTOWN, Md. (AP) — A 15-year-old Maryland girl who was handcuffed, pepper-sprayed and charged with assaulting police officers after her bicycle hit a car won't face court proceedings, community service or supervision by juvenile authorities under an agreement her lawyer announced Tuesday.
Attorney Robin Ficker said the girl has written a letter to the state Department of Juvenile Services apologizing for cursing at officers who struggled to detain her after she refused to identify herself or her parents.
The girl had been charged by police as a juvenile with two counts of second-degree assault, plus disorderly conduct, marijuana possession and a traffic violation.
The Sept. 18 incident, captured by police body cameras and cellphone video, prompted three days of demonstrations by people demanding police accountability in Hagerstown, a city of 40,000 about 70 miles west of Baltimore.
The Department of Juvenile Services could not confirm the agreement due to confidentiality laws regarding juvenile records, spokeswoman Audra Harrison said.
Police and city officials didn't immediately respond to phone calls and emails from The Associated Press. Police Chief Victor Brito has said his officers initially tried to de-escalate the situation, and then used appropriate force to get the kicking, cursing girl inside a cruiser and off to the police station so they could properly investigate the accident.
The girl refused medical care from paramedics at the accident scene. Her father later took her to an emergency room, where she was diagnosed with a possible concussion, according to a medical report.
Ficker wouldn't rule out a civil lawsuit against the city or police. He said the girl's parents have not taken any steps toward civil action, "but who knows what the future will hold."
In her letter, which Ficker provded to the AP, the girl apologized for her language and said she wasn't thinking clearly, having been briefly knocked unconscious in the collision.
"I was not brought up to speak that way. I have been taught to be respectful of everyone. I feel that if this accident had never happened I would have not spoken that way," she wrote.
A bystander's cellphone video shows officers forcefully flinging the struggling girl toward a building before handcuffing her. She and Ficker say she was slammed against the wall, but the camera angle misses the moment of impact. The video shows her a moment later, pressed face-first against the wall.
Ficker said the girl, a high-school sophomore, had no prior involvement with juvenile authorities.
"She is just to keep going to school as she's doing and not to get in any trouble," he said.
The dark-skinned girl has a white mother and black father, and all the officers involved are white, but race has not been raised as an issue in the case.
The fingers
10 TW
http://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/news/local-news/former-cop-indicted-crash-killed-cyclist 
By JOHN BURNETT Hawaii Tribune-Herald
A former police officer who allegedly struck and killed a bicyclist in what the Hawaii Fire Department called a hit-and-run collision last year in South Kohala has been indicted by a Kona grand jury.
The three-count indictment dated Oct. 3 charges Jody Buddemeyer with first-degree negligent homicide, tampering with physical evidence and making a false report to law enforcement authorities.
Police say Buddemeyer was on duty and driving east on Waikoloa Road near the 11-mile marker on the morning of March 1, 2015, when his car struck and killed 63-year-old Jeffrey C. Surnow of West Bloomfield Hills, Mich. Surnow, an avid bicyclist, was riding in the same direction when he was hit.
According to police, Buddemeyer reported the crash around 6:25 a.m. that day.
Buddemeyer, who was 30 at the time of the collision, was arrested that day on suspicion of negligent homicide and released from custody pending further investigation.
Buddemeyer was later terminated from the department for removing physical evidence from a crime scene and providing false information after being involved in a traffic collision, according to the annual police misconduct report provided to the state legislature.
“With these cases, oftentimes there’s forensic evidence and oftentimes cases go back and forth between the police and the prosecutors. Prosecutors are asking for further evidence and things like that,” county Prosecutor Mitch Roth said late Thursday afternoon when asked why it took so long to charge Buddemeyer.
Roth said a warrant was issued for Buddemeyer’s arrest his bail was set at $10,000.
Surnow, who was a real estate developer in Michigan, was found lying face down near a “severely damaged” bicycle on the shoulder of the eastbound lane of Waikoloa Road, according to Fire Department personnel who responded. Fire personnel determined he died prior to their arrival and handed the investigation over to police.
The indictment described Surnow as “vulnerable user.” The negligent homicide charge is a Class B felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison. The other two charges are misdemeanors punishable by up to a year in jail.
By JOHN BURNETT Hawaii Tribune-Herald
A former police officer who allegedly struck and killed a bicyclist in what the Hawaii Fire Department called a hit-and-run collision last year in South Kohala has been indicted by a Kona grand jury.
The three-count indictment dated Oct. 3 charges Jody Buddemeyer with first-degree negligent homicide, tampering with physical evidence and making a false report to law enforcement authorities.
Police say Buddemeyer was on duty and driving east on Waikoloa Road near the 11-mile marker on the morning of March 1, 2015, when his car struck and killed 63-year-old Jeffrey C. Surnow of West Bloomfield Hills, Mich. Surnow, an avid bicyclist, was riding in the same direction when he was hit.
According to police, Buddemeyer reported the crash around 6:25 a.m. that day.
Buddemeyer, who was 30 at the time of the collision, was arrested that day on suspicion of negligent homicide and released from custody pending further investigation.
Buddemeyer was later terminated from the department for removing physical evidence from a crime scene and providing false information after being involved in a traffic collision, according to the annual police misconduct report provided to the state legislature.
“With these cases, oftentimes there’s forensic evidence and oftentimes cases go back and forth between the police and the prosecutors. Prosecutors are asking for further evidence and things like that,” county Prosecutor Mitch Roth said late Thursday afternoon when asked why it took so long to charge Buddemeyer.
Roth said a warrant was issued for Buddemeyer’s arrest his bail was set at $10,000.
Surnow, who was a real estate developer in Michigan, was found lying face down near a “severely damaged” bicycle on the shoulder of the eastbound lane of Waikoloa Road, according to Fire Department personnel who responded. Fire personnel determined he died prior to their arrival and handed the investigation over to police.
The indictment described Surnow as “vulnerable user.” The negligent homicide charge is a Class B felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison. The other two charges are misdemeanors punishable by up to a year in jail.
The fingers
10 TW
http://bedfordandbowery.com/2016/10/what-happens-when-a-driver-hits-your-bike-and-ghosts/ :x
What Happens When a Driver Hits Your Bike and Ghosts
October 19, 2016 By Daniel Hoffman
It’s like I’m on the set of a police series. Is it CSI or SVU? I’ve never been good with acronyms. Two cops escort me while an attendant pushes my squeaking wheelchair through the gloomy hallways of Wyckoff Medical Center’s ER. A drunkard soliloquizes in Polish, a crumpled woman has a coughing fit, and a patient in pajamas stares into space and smiles.
Officer Backer taps the screen of his tablet each time I give him an answer. Problem is I don’t remember much. I can only describe stroboscopic flashes of the accident: The violence of the car striking my bike and crumpling the rear wheel.
My howl as I was thrown from the seat, onto the ground. A revving engine as the driver sped up while I writhed in pain. My sadness as I lay on that lonely road, with a bleeding knee and an acute sense of mortality.
But the cop’s questions are way more down to earth: “What was the color of the vehicle? What brand? What type? Did you see the driver?”
“No, Officer, I did not.” I was too busy making sure I was still alive.
I had been on a routine evening ride, biking back to Ridgewood after a dinner with friends. I had passed the East Village, crossed the Williamsburg Bridge, hurtled down Grand Street, and reached Metropolitan Avenue, a perilous portion of the ride with no separate bike lane. This is where I always stick to the far right side of the road and slow down to make sure fast drivers have time to notice my flashing taillight.
They usually do. But just when I was about to turn on Woodward, a brutal impact tore my bike apart from the back. Next thing I knew, I was shivering near the sidewalk, surrounded by three guys who stopped to help me. A fireman showed up, checked the back of my neck and asked if I felt dizzy. Fortunately, I was wearing a helmet and my head didn’t hit the ground. But I couldn’t stand up. A few minutes later, I was transferred to a gurney in an ambulance where a paramedic took my pulse, and tightened a tensiometer like crazy until I was about to faint.
Maybe I shouldn’t expect sympathy. Maybe I should just embrace the banality of my accident and be relieved I survived in one piece. But the indifference of everyone from the ambulance drivers to these two officers makes me feel like a total stranger. A non-resident French alien, my visa says. The word alien sounds appropriate now. A year into living in New York, I’ve never felt so out of place.
I feel like running away, but I have to wait for the doctor’s verdict in a narrow corridor on the hospital’s second floor. I glance at Officer Backer and his colleague and suspect they’ve had enough of me. They seem disappointed, jaded, probably both. I feel like a dunce who has let down his teacher by failing a quiz.
“Your police report will be ready in a few days at your precinct,” says Backer, who gives me the case number.
“Officer, before you go, I’d like to know if there’s any chance you’ll catch the guy who did it,” I ask. The second cop, who had remained silent until then, looks at me and shrugs, “Quite unlikely.”
“But wait, there’s this woman who said she wrote down the license plate number and called 911. Wouldn’t that information help you find him?” I ask.
Backer scrolls up and down his tablet. “Sorry, but I don’t see anything in our records.”
The doctor tells me the X-ray doesn’t show a fracture. Guess it was my “lucky day.” I have no idea what time it is, but I’m ready to leave. My knees shake a little when I get to my feet and I need a cane to keep my balance. But as Elton John would say, I’m still standing. Looking like a true survivor, feeling like a little kid.
But the little kid in me is choking back tears. Can someone really plow into a biker and just drive off and get away with it?
Back at home, a Google search makes me realize the scale of the problem. I’m like the other 4,000 yearly victims of hit-and-runs across the city. In all likelihood, my case will soon be buried and forgotten. According to NYPD statistics, an investigation is opened one time out of ten. And here’s an even more staggering number: of the 48 fatal incidents recorded last year, 28 suspects were apprehended. That leaves some 20 bastards on the loose.
Last month, hundreds of cyclists staged a protest ride to Washington Square Park, in memory of the 17 cyclists who had been killed by hit-and-runs this year. Transportation Alternatives, the advocacy group that organized the action, said that hit-and-run statistics were “moving in the wrong direction” vis a vis the mayor’s Vision Zero initiative to eliminate traffic deaths and serious injuries by 2024.
Reading such things makes me fume at my computer. There’s nothing I can do to have my assailant locked up, and that feeling of powerlessness hurts just as much as the wound on my knees. I understand that the police have tons of cases that are more important than this misadventure. But I can’t fully accept it. What if this guy strikes again? What if his next victim doesn’t pull through?
A few days later, I limp to my precinct to pick up the police report. At the counter, a bespectacled, middle-aged desk worker hands me the document. I timidly ask her whether there has been any “progress” on my case.
“Your case is closed, honey. They’re not gonna open an investigation.”
“And under which circumstances would that happen?”
“Only if you die, honey.”
So much for compassion.
* * *
I got a surprise call a few days ago. Detective Williams from the 104th precinct. He told me that my aggressor, a man, had been identified and arrested, but wouldn’t giving me with any details about him, invoking confidentiality.
So I reached out to a lawyer to find out if I could bring suit. He gave me the same answer as the desk worker from the police station, though in a more polished fashion. Unless I had sustained a “serious injury” (the list includes dismemberment, disfigurement, loss of use of a body organ, and loss of a fetus, among others), I would not stand any chance in court. “Thank God, you don’t have any of these,” he said. I thanked him and hung up.
I had run out of options and just wanted to move on. I guess the fact that the guy got caught brought me some comfort, but a weird aftertaste lingered. I don’t know anything about him, what he looks like, whether he’s been jailed or just fined. He’ll remain a shadow who almost ran me over on a Tuesday night and didn’t care to know if I was all right.
http://gothamist.com/2016/10/19/nyc_hit_run_utopia.php :x
Most Hit & Run Drivers Are Getting Away With Murder In NYC, New Data Shows
by Emma Whitford in News on Oct 19, 2016 9:25 am
In July, less than a week after a hit-and-run driver struck and killed Queens man Matthew von Ohlen in a Williamsburg bike lane, the NYPD's 90th Precinct tweeted that officers had tracked down the black Chevy Camaro allegedly involved. That car identification was the most recent public update on von Ohlen's case. No one has been arrested to date, and no suspects identified. The NYPD has repeatedly refused to say why the driver of the recovered vehicle has not been charged.
The status of von Ohlen's case is typical, according to new statistics from the NYPD. Of 38 fatal hit-and-run crashes between July 2015 and June 2016—the most up-to-date statistics available—13, or 34 percent, have resulted in an arrest. In 22 hit-and-run crashes where the victim was "seriously injured" by the NYPD's estimation, 14 arrests have been made.
Taking all fatal and injurious crashes into account—including those that resulted in what the NYPD classified as non-serious "personal injuries"—the NYPD has made 450 arrests in 5,066 crashes. That's an arrest rate of about 8 percent.
The fiscal year 2016 hit-and-run data was published late this summer in accordance with a new law requiring the NYPD to issue annual reports on the number of hit-and-run complaints received, compared to the number of arrests made.
Mayor de Blasio pledged to catch and punish more hit-and-run drivers during his annual Vision Zero check-in last December, and recently passed legislation doubling hit-and-run fines. But this is the first time the NYPD has been compelled to publicly track its progress on hit-and-run cases, according to the office of City Council Majority Leader Jimmy Van Bramer, who sponsored the legislation.
"New data released under my bill, the Justice for Hit and Run Victims Act, shows that NYPD has failed to make an arrest in more than 90% of cases where a driver has hit a person with their car, then left the scene," Van Bramer said in a statement Tuesday. "That is an outrage. If you hit someone with your car and then drive away, it's a crime and should be treated as such."
For comparison, the arrest rate for murder and non-negligent manslaughter in 2015 was 86 percent—308 arrests out of 335 incidents.
"I'm glad to see that the information is now being published," said attorney Steve Vaccaro, who primarily represents cyclists and pedestrians injured and killed by reckless drivers. "It's as we knew and suspected—that hit and run is the most neglected serious crime going on in New York City today."
Mayoral spokesman Austin Finan stressed that the Collision Investigation Squad focuses its resources on the most serious crashes—where the arrest rates are higher—allocating crashes deemed less serious to precinct detectives.
"Property damage incidents—which comprise nearly 90% of all hit-and-run cases—and non-life-threatening injuries are investigated by detectives," he said. "Putting CIS investigators on those cases would come at the expense of fully investigating hit and runs that seriously injure or take a life. Targeting the most severe cases and the worst offenders is the way to make our streets safer."
Mayor de Blasio debuting Vision Zero in February 2014, with Department of Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg and then-NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton (Rob Bennett for the Office of Mayor Bill de Blasio).
But Vaccaro said that he's troubled by how the NYPD defines a "serious" injury.
Citing his experience litigating against the NYPD on behalf of hit-and-run victims, he said the non-serious category "may include everything from scrapes and bruises and road rash, all the way up to any serious injury that doesn't involve the person needing life support. You can lose a limb and not need life support."
"If you are killed, if you are catastrophically injured, [NYPD] resources are applied," he added. "I really applaud the fact that the serious injury hit-and-runs have almost a 50 percent arrest rate. It means these cases aren't intractable."
In July, 58-year-old hit-and-run driver Jairam Budhu was arrested and charged with manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, and assault after he ignored a stop sign in South Ozone Park, killing a woman sitting in her Sedan nearby, and seriously injuring her daughter. "With effort, perpetrators can be arrested," Vaccaro said. "So why is it that there is an 8 percent arrest rate with the less serious injuries?"
The NYPD did not immediately respond to a request for clarity on its methodology for determining what constitutes a "serious injury."
While the NYPD wasn't obligated to release statistics on FY 2015, NYPD Inspector Dennis Fulton testified last December that there were 48 hit-and-run crashes in 2015 that resulted in death or "serious injury," with 28 arrests. Also last year, there were about 4,000 hit-and-runs that resulted in lesser injuries. According to a December 2015 Transportation Alternatives report, fewer than 1 percent of these drivers were charged with a crime (advocates have also blamed the borough District Attorneys for this statistic).
"This year, by Labor Day, we had surpassed the number of hit-and-runs we saw in all of 2015," said Transportation Alternatives spokesman Brian Zumhagen. "The Department needs to expand the CIS significantly with more officers to investigate these crashes."
Vaccaro suggested that the NYPD use the penal code definition of "serious personal injury" to determine which hit-and-run cases get CIS investigations. According to that code, "protracted impairment of health or protracted loss or impairment of the function of any bodily organ" falls into the serious injury category.
One of Vaccaro's past clients, 40-year-old Dulcie Canton, was struck by a hit-and-run driver while riding her bike in Bushwick in August of 2014. "The guy broke my right shoulder," Canton told Gothamist shortly after the crash. "And I had a concussion and a really bad sprained left ankle." Her case never got a thorough investigation, according to Vaccaro.
In von Ohlen's case, a fatality, CIS is investigating. Investigations into fatal hit-and-run crashes can take weeks and even months for myriad reasons. "It's like any crime," Vaccaro said. "Criminals don't make it easy to catch them."
"But," he added, "I don't think that the NYPD should decide that only the need for life support calls for more resources."
Former NYPD Commissioner Bratton told advocates this spring that that while the NYPD's Collision Investigation Squad (CIS) is faced with more traffic incidents than it could possibly investigate, additional CIS officers were not part of his 2016 budget plans. "We will not be increasing significantly the number of [CIS] investigators," he said. "What we have expanded is [their] responsibility." Indeed, until two years ago, CIS only had the jurisdiction to investigate crashes that resulted in death.
What Happens When a Driver Hits Your Bike and Ghosts
October 19, 2016 By Daniel Hoffman
It’s like I’m on the set of a police series. Is it CSI or SVU? I’ve never been good with acronyms. Two cops escort me while an attendant pushes my squeaking wheelchair through the gloomy hallways of Wyckoff Medical Center’s ER. A drunkard soliloquizes in Polish, a crumpled woman has a coughing fit, and a patient in pajamas stares into space and smiles.
Officer Backer taps the screen of his tablet each time I give him an answer. Problem is I don’t remember much. I can only describe stroboscopic flashes of the accident: The violence of the car striking my bike and crumpling the rear wheel.
My howl as I was thrown from the seat, onto the ground. A revving engine as the driver sped up while I writhed in pain. My sadness as I lay on that lonely road, with a bleeding knee and an acute sense of mortality.
But the cop’s questions are way more down to earth: “What was the color of the vehicle? What brand? What type? Did you see the driver?”
“No, Officer, I did not.” I was too busy making sure I was still alive.
I had been on a routine evening ride, biking back to Ridgewood after a dinner with friends. I had passed the East Village, crossed the Williamsburg Bridge, hurtled down Grand Street, and reached Metropolitan Avenue, a perilous portion of the ride with no separate bike lane. This is where I always stick to the far right side of the road and slow down to make sure fast drivers have time to notice my flashing taillight.
They usually do. But just when I was about to turn on Woodward, a brutal impact tore my bike apart from the back. Next thing I knew, I was shivering near the sidewalk, surrounded by three guys who stopped to help me. A fireman showed up, checked the back of my neck and asked if I felt dizzy. Fortunately, I was wearing a helmet and my head didn’t hit the ground. But I couldn’t stand up. A few minutes later, I was transferred to a gurney in an ambulance where a paramedic took my pulse, and tightened a tensiometer like crazy until I was about to faint.
Maybe I shouldn’t expect sympathy. Maybe I should just embrace the banality of my accident and be relieved I survived in one piece. But the indifference of everyone from the ambulance drivers to these two officers makes me feel like a total stranger. A non-resident French alien, my visa says. The word alien sounds appropriate now. A year into living in New York, I’ve never felt so out of place.
I feel like running away, but I have to wait for the doctor’s verdict in a narrow corridor on the hospital’s second floor. I glance at Officer Backer and his colleague and suspect they’ve had enough of me. They seem disappointed, jaded, probably both. I feel like a dunce who has let down his teacher by failing a quiz.
“Your police report will be ready in a few days at your precinct,” says Backer, who gives me the case number.
“Officer, before you go, I’d like to know if there’s any chance you’ll catch the guy who did it,” I ask. The second cop, who had remained silent until then, looks at me and shrugs, “Quite unlikely.”
“But wait, there’s this woman who said she wrote down the license plate number and called 911. Wouldn’t that information help you find him?” I ask.
Backer scrolls up and down his tablet. “Sorry, but I don’t see anything in our records.”
The doctor tells me the X-ray doesn’t show a fracture. Guess it was my “lucky day.” I have no idea what time it is, but I’m ready to leave. My knees shake a little when I get to my feet and I need a cane to keep my balance. But as Elton John would say, I’m still standing. Looking like a true survivor, feeling like a little kid.
But the little kid in me is choking back tears. Can someone really plow into a biker and just drive off and get away with it?
Back at home, a Google search makes me realize the scale of the problem. I’m like the other 4,000 yearly victims of hit-and-runs across the city. In all likelihood, my case will soon be buried and forgotten. According to NYPD statistics, an investigation is opened one time out of ten. And here’s an even more staggering number: of the 48 fatal incidents recorded last year, 28 suspects were apprehended. That leaves some 20 bastards on the loose.
Last month, hundreds of cyclists staged a protest ride to Washington Square Park, in memory of the 17 cyclists who had been killed by hit-and-runs this year. Transportation Alternatives, the advocacy group that organized the action, said that hit-and-run statistics were “moving in the wrong direction” vis a vis the mayor’s Vision Zero initiative to eliminate traffic deaths and serious injuries by 2024.
Reading such things makes me fume at my computer. There’s nothing I can do to have my assailant locked up, and that feeling of powerlessness hurts just as much as the wound on my knees. I understand that the police have tons of cases that are more important than this misadventure. But I can’t fully accept it. What if this guy strikes again? What if his next victim doesn’t pull through?
A few days later, I limp to my precinct to pick up the police report. At the counter, a bespectacled, middle-aged desk worker hands me the document. I timidly ask her whether there has been any “progress” on my case.
“Your case is closed, honey. They’re not gonna open an investigation.”
“And under which circumstances would that happen?”
“Only if you die, honey.”
So much for compassion.
* * *
I got a surprise call a few days ago. Detective Williams from the 104th precinct. He told me that my aggressor, a man, had been identified and arrested, but wouldn’t giving me with any details about him, invoking confidentiality.
So I reached out to a lawyer to find out if I could bring suit. He gave me the same answer as the desk worker from the police station, though in a more polished fashion. Unless I had sustained a “serious injury” (the list includes dismemberment, disfigurement, loss of use of a body organ, and loss of a fetus, among others), I would not stand any chance in court. “Thank God, you don’t have any of these,” he said. I thanked him and hung up.
I had run out of options and just wanted to move on. I guess the fact that the guy got caught brought me some comfort, but a weird aftertaste lingered. I don’t know anything about him, what he looks like, whether he’s been jailed or just fined. He’ll remain a shadow who almost ran me over on a Tuesday night and didn’t care to know if I was all right.
http://gothamist.com/2016/10/19/nyc_hit_run_utopia.php :x
Most Hit & Run Drivers Are Getting Away With Murder In NYC, New Data Shows
by Emma Whitford in News on Oct 19, 2016 9:25 am
In July, less than a week after a hit-and-run driver struck and killed Queens man Matthew von Ohlen in a Williamsburg bike lane, the NYPD's 90th Precinct tweeted that officers had tracked down the black Chevy Camaro allegedly involved. That car identification was the most recent public update on von Ohlen's case. No one has been arrested to date, and no suspects identified. The NYPD has repeatedly refused to say why the driver of the recovered vehicle has not been charged.
The status of von Ohlen's case is typical, according to new statistics from the NYPD. Of 38 fatal hit-and-run crashes between July 2015 and June 2016—the most up-to-date statistics available—13, or 34 percent, have resulted in an arrest. In 22 hit-and-run crashes where the victim was "seriously injured" by the NYPD's estimation, 14 arrests have been made.
Taking all fatal and injurious crashes into account—including those that resulted in what the NYPD classified as non-serious "personal injuries"—the NYPD has made 450 arrests in 5,066 crashes. That's an arrest rate of about 8 percent.
The fiscal year 2016 hit-and-run data was published late this summer in accordance with a new law requiring the NYPD to issue annual reports on the number of hit-and-run complaints received, compared to the number of arrests made.
Mayor de Blasio pledged to catch and punish more hit-and-run drivers during his annual Vision Zero check-in last December, and recently passed legislation doubling hit-and-run fines. But this is the first time the NYPD has been compelled to publicly track its progress on hit-and-run cases, according to the office of City Council Majority Leader Jimmy Van Bramer, who sponsored the legislation.
"New data released under my bill, the Justice for Hit and Run Victims Act, shows that NYPD has failed to make an arrest in more than 90% of cases where a driver has hit a person with their car, then left the scene," Van Bramer said in a statement Tuesday. "That is an outrage. If you hit someone with your car and then drive away, it's a crime and should be treated as such."
For comparison, the arrest rate for murder and non-negligent manslaughter in 2015 was 86 percent—308 arrests out of 335 incidents.
"I'm glad to see that the information is now being published," said attorney Steve Vaccaro, who primarily represents cyclists and pedestrians injured and killed by reckless drivers. "It's as we knew and suspected—that hit and run is the most neglected serious crime going on in New York City today."
Mayoral spokesman Austin Finan stressed that the Collision Investigation Squad focuses its resources on the most serious crashes—where the arrest rates are higher—allocating crashes deemed less serious to precinct detectives.
"Property damage incidents—which comprise nearly 90% of all hit-and-run cases—and non-life-threatening injuries are investigated by detectives," he said. "Putting CIS investigators on those cases would come at the expense of fully investigating hit and runs that seriously injure or take a life. Targeting the most severe cases and the worst offenders is the way to make our streets safer."
Mayor de Blasio debuting Vision Zero in February 2014, with Department of Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg and then-NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton (Rob Bennett for the Office of Mayor Bill de Blasio).
But Vaccaro said that he's troubled by how the NYPD defines a "serious" injury.
Citing his experience litigating against the NYPD on behalf of hit-and-run victims, he said the non-serious category "may include everything from scrapes and bruises and road rash, all the way up to any serious injury that doesn't involve the person needing life support. You can lose a limb and not need life support."
"If you are killed, if you are catastrophically injured, [NYPD] resources are applied," he added. "I really applaud the fact that the serious injury hit-and-runs have almost a 50 percent arrest rate. It means these cases aren't intractable."
In July, 58-year-old hit-and-run driver Jairam Budhu was arrested and charged with manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, and assault after he ignored a stop sign in South Ozone Park, killing a woman sitting in her Sedan nearby, and seriously injuring her daughter. "With effort, perpetrators can be arrested," Vaccaro said. "So why is it that there is an 8 percent arrest rate with the less serious injuries?"
The NYPD did not immediately respond to a request for clarity on its methodology for determining what constitutes a "serious injury."
While the NYPD wasn't obligated to release statistics on FY 2015, NYPD Inspector Dennis Fulton testified last December that there were 48 hit-and-run crashes in 2015 that resulted in death or "serious injury," with 28 arrests. Also last year, there were about 4,000 hit-and-runs that resulted in lesser injuries. According to a December 2015 Transportation Alternatives report, fewer than 1 percent of these drivers were charged with a crime (advocates have also blamed the borough District Attorneys for this statistic).
"This year, by Labor Day, we had surpassed the number of hit-and-runs we saw in all of 2015," said Transportation Alternatives spokesman Brian Zumhagen. "The Department needs to expand the CIS significantly with more officers to investigate these crashes."
Vaccaro suggested that the NYPD use the penal code definition of "serious personal injury" to determine which hit-and-run cases get CIS investigations. According to that code, "protracted impairment of health or protracted loss or impairment of the function of any bodily organ" falls into the serious injury category.
One of Vaccaro's past clients, 40-year-old Dulcie Canton, was struck by a hit-and-run driver while riding her bike in Bushwick in August of 2014. "The guy broke my right shoulder," Canton told Gothamist shortly after the crash. "And I had a concussion and a really bad sprained left ankle." Her case never got a thorough investigation, according to Vaccaro.
In von Ohlen's case, a fatality, CIS is investigating. Investigations into fatal hit-and-run crashes can take weeks and even months for myriad reasons. "It's like any crime," Vaccaro said. "Criminals don't make it easy to catch them."
"But," he added, "I don't think that the NYPD should decide that only the need for life support calls for more resources."
Former NYPD Commissioner Bratton told advocates this spring that that while the NYPD's Collision Investigation Squad (CIS) is faced with more traffic incidents than it could possibly investigate, additional CIS officers were not part of his 2016 budget plans. "We will not be increasing significantly the number of [CIS] investigators," he said. "What we have expanded is [their] responsibility." Indeed, until two years ago, CIS only had the jurisdiction to investigate crashes that resulted in death.
DukeMoto
100 mW
The fingers said:A police officer in Long Beach, California, recently told a group of BMX riders that they could not ride their bikes in a public park, which turned out not to be true (video below).
In the video, the officer told the bikers, “If you’re doing tricks up here I don’t care, but once you get off of this, you can’t ride your bikes down here. You can pass that word along. That will keep people from complaining to me and I won’t come talk to you.”
However, one of the riders, a young man named Sean and who filmed the officer, asked if the law had been changed. The officer informed him that it had been the law for "quite awhile," notes RawStory.com.
“16.16.502 is the civic sectional code that states you can ride your bicycles around out here,” Sean told the cop. “So I don’t know what law you are referring to.”
“OK, you want to go that way?” the officer replied. “We can go that way.”
“You want to pull out your civic code and you want to look up the code?” Sean added. “16.16.502 states that you can ride your bicycle out here.”
The officer asked Sean exactly where he is referring to, and Sean told him the Rainbow Harbor Esplanade, which was the entire area that the cop was referring to.
The officer then sarcastically asked: “So did you get your law degree on Facebook or where did you actually obtain that?”
Sean responded:
So, do I have to have a law degree to be an informed citizen? Is that what you’re saying? It's wrong to be informed? It's wrong to know the law? ... I got it by knowing my rights. Is it wrong to know your rights as a citizen?
Because last time I checked, when officers come and try to invalidate your rights by telling you bulls--- laws and enforcing their opinions, that’s not what you are supposed to do. You're supposed to support the law.
And when the law says that you can ride your bikes out here, you have no business coming up and harassing anyone telling them they shouldn't ride their bikes.
After the cop mocked the harassment claim, Sean added: "When you tell someone to not ride their bike when they're legally able to ride their bike, yes, that is harassment. Your opinion is irrelevant. The law states we can ride our bikes. Now do you have anything else to say or are you going to leave us alone?”
The officer then walked away.
According to The Free Thought Project, Sean was right about the municipal code, but was slightly off on his reference.
The code is actually section 16.08.502: "Bicycle riding on the Rainbow Harbor Esplanade is prohibited in excess of three (3) miles per hour between the hours of ten o'clock (10:00) a.m. and ten o'clock (10:00) p.m., except City employees in the performance of their duties."
http://www.opposingviews.com/i/bike-rider-schools-cop-law-cop-walks-away-video
Hahaha! Good for that kid!!!
If more people had the balls to learn and then stand on their rights instead of being boot licking cowards all the time, there wouldn't be so many bad cops out there.
I'm surprised it went down like that in LB. Here in Torrance, it would be something more like this:
cop- (sarcastically) Oh, you know your rights do you?
You- Yes.
cop- (on a Friday) Well, maybe well let you tell it to the judge on Monday. Enjoy your Mulk and unidentifiable and inedible gruel in jail for the weekend. Book em Danno. And don't forget to stick your finger up his ass when booking.
The fingers
10 TW
The fingers
10 TW
http://www.10news.com/news/angry-driver-knocks-local-radio-host-off-his-bicycle-during-charity-ride :x
CARLSBAD, Calif. - A local radio host wants to know why Carlsbad police did not arrest a motorist who knocked him off his bike.
"He hit the gas, hit me from behind … threw me off my bike," said Bob "Sully" Sullivan, a local host on KOGO.
Sullivan was participating in the annual Challenged Athletes Foundation's 620-mile Million Dollar Challenge with his riding partner Eric Northbrook.
"Home stretch, we're coming from Dana Point," said Northbrook about the last ride they finished Friday.
Northbrook was leading their group and peddling up a small hill on the Coast Highway leading into Carlsbad. His pace was very slow.
"There was a guy just on the … on the horn, excessively on the horn," recalled Northbrook, a local real estate manager for Voit.
A man driving a red Ford Ranger truck was stuck behind a support van that was escorting Sullivan and Northbrook. The van had signs on the back, Sullivan noted.
"'Caution,' 'Cyclist Ahead'; lights are flashing, the whole thing," said Sullivan.
However, the man still blared his horn at the cyclists. Sullivan went back and explained to the driver that Northbrook is a paraplegic and can't go that fast because he hand-peddles his bike.
"'We've gone 590 miles, give me 90 seconds, I'll have him up and over this grade, you can be on your way,'" Sullivan said he told the man. "Completely agitated, he says to me, 'I don't care if it's f-ing God up there. Get out of the f-ing road.'"
Sullivan said that's when he stopped talking to the man and got back on his bike. The truck's driver accelerated and hit Sullivan's bike, causing him to fall to the roadway.
Sullivan sustained several injuries.
"Just at that moment, coming in the opposite direction, is a cyclist who happens to be an off-duty Oceanside police officer," said Sullivan.
Sullivan said the officer called 911 and Carlsbad police arrived to speak with the truck's driver. However, the man wasn't arrested and was allowed to drive away.
CARLSBAD, Calif. - A local radio host wants to know why Carlsbad police did not arrest a motorist who knocked him off his bike.
"He hit the gas, hit me from behind … threw me off my bike," said Bob "Sully" Sullivan, a local host on KOGO.
Sullivan was participating in the annual Challenged Athletes Foundation's 620-mile Million Dollar Challenge with his riding partner Eric Northbrook.
"Home stretch, we're coming from Dana Point," said Northbrook about the last ride they finished Friday.
Northbrook was leading their group and peddling up a small hill on the Coast Highway leading into Carlsbad. His pace was very slow.
"There was a guy just on the … on the horn, excessively on the horn," recalled Northbrook, a local real estate manager for Voit.
A man driving a red Ford Ranger truck was stuck behind a support van that was escorting Sullivan and Northbrook. The van had signs on the back, Sullivan noted.
"'Caution,' 'Cyclist Ahead'; lights are flashing, the whole thing," said Sullivan.
However, the man still blared his horn at the cyclists. Sullivan went back and explained to the driver that Northbrook is a paraplegic and can't go that fast because he hand-peddles his bike.
"'We've gone 590 miles, give me 90 seconds, I'll have him up and over this grade, you can be on your way,'" Sullivan said he told the man. "Completely agitated, he says to me, 'I don't care if it's f-ing God up there. Get out of the f-ing road.'"
Sullivan said that's when he stopped talking to the man and got back on his bike. The truck's driver accelerated and hit Sullivan's bike, causing him to fall to the roadway.
Sullivan sustained several injuries.
"Just at that moment, coming in the opposite direction, is a cyclist who happens to be an off-duty Oceanside police officer," said Sullivan.
Sullivan said the officer called 911 and Carlsbad police arrived to speak with the truck's driver. However, the man wasn't arrested and was allowed to drive away.
The fingers
10 TW
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/grove-733913-garden-bicyclist.html :x
GARDEN GROVE – A bicyclist was hospitalized with traumatic injuries after a collision with a Garden Grove police vehicle Monday evening, fire officials and a California Highway Patrol dispatcher said.
The incident happened around 7:30 p.m. on the corner of Harbor and Garden Grove boulevards, the dispatcher said.
Paramedics transported the bicyclist to a local hospital, said Tim Sawyer, a battalion chief for the Garden Grove Fire Department. It was unknown how serious the person’s injuries are.
The California Highway Patrol was initially called in to handle the investigation.
GARDEN GROVE – A bicyclist was hospitalized with traumatic injuries after a collision with a Garden Grove police vehicle Monday evening, fire officials and a California Highway Patrol dispatcher said.
The incident happened around 7:30 p.m. on the corner of Harbor and Garden Grove boulevards, the dispatcher said.
Paramedics transported the bicyclist to a local hospital, said Tim Sawyer, a battalion chief for the Garden Grove Fire Department. It was unknown how serious the person’s injuries are.
The California Highway Patrol was initially called in to handle the investigation.
markz
100 TW
DukeMoto said:The fingers said:A police officer in Long Beach, California, recently told a group of BMX riders that they could not ride their bikes in a public park, which turned out not to be true (video below).
In the video, the officer told the bikers, “If you’re doing tricks up here I don’t care, but once you get off of this, you can’t ride your bikes down here. You can pass that word along. That will keep people from complaining to me and I won’t come talk to you.”
However, one of the riders, a young man named Sean and who filmed the officer, asked if the law had been changed. The officer informed him that it had been the law for "quite awhile," notes RawStory.com.
“16.16.502 is the civic sectional code that states you can ride your bicycles around out here,” Sean told the cop. “So I don’t know what law you are referring to.”
“OK, you want to go that way?” the officer replied. “We can go that way.”
“You want to pull out your civic code and you want to look up the code?” Sean added. “16.16.502 states that you can ride your bicycle out here.”
The officer asked Sean exactly where he is referring to, and Sean told him the Rainbow Harbor Esplanade, which was the entire area that the cop was referring to.
The officer then sarcastically asked: “So did you get your law degree on Facebook or where did you actually obtain that?”
Sean responded:
So, do I have to have a law degree to be an informed citizen? Is that what you’re saying? It's wrong to be informed? It's wrong to know the law? ... I got it by knowing my rights. Is it wrong to know your rights as a citizen?
Because last time I checked, when officers come and try to invalidate your rights by telling you bulls--- laws and enforcing their opinions, that’s not what you are supposed to do. You're supposed to support the law.
And when the law says that you can ride your bikes out here, you have no business coming up and harassing anyone telling them they shouldn't ride their bikes.
After the cop mocked the harassment claim, Sean added: "When you tell someone to not ride their bike when they're legally able to ride their bike, yes, that is harassment. Your opinion is irrelevant. The law states we can ride our bikes. Now do you have anything else to say or are you going to leave us alone?”
The officer then walked away.
According to The Free Thought Project, Sean was right about the municipal code, but was slightly off on his reference.
The code is actually section 16.08.502: "Bicycle riding on the Rainbow Harbor Esplanade is prohibited in excess of three (3) miles per hour between the hours of ten o'clock (10:00) a.m. and ten o'clock (10:00) p.m., except City employees in the performance of their duties."
http://www.opposingviews.com/i/bike-rider-schools-cop-law-cop-walks-away-video
Unfortunately that is just too common. Pigs pulling a power trip like that.
There are no repercussions for them, even when its recorded.
Chalo
100 TW
markz said:
That's so unfortunately true. As long as cops break the law with impunity, there will be no disincentive to them abusing their power.
Personally, I think a cop who screws up on the job should lose his job, one who breaks the law on the job should be mercilessly prosecuted, and one who kills should be put down like a mad dog. A cop who covers up for a criminal cop should face the same punishment as the perpetrator.
I don't believe in capital punishment for private citizens, but I believe betraying the trust of the public should cost you your life. That covers cops, military, politicians, and executives of publicly held corporations.
These guys are sworn to uphold the law, and it's past time to have a big gnarly stick to go along with the carrot.
The fingers
10 TW
http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news...stop-sign-given-points-driving-licence-297767 :x
New Zealand cyclist given points on driving licence for riding through stop sign
Chris Marshall-Bell
November 2, 2016
Despite not having a licence, the cyclist received 20 demerit points
A cyclist in New Zealand was given points on a driving licence that he doesn’t even have because he cycled through a stop sign.
Paul Taylor was riding in Rolleston – just over 20 kilometres from Christchurch – when he failed to come to a halt at a stop sign because he claims a truck was going through the junction behind him so he knew he could pass without any other traffic coming from the right.
But his actions were caught on camera by a police man who pulled him over and asked for his driving licence.
Mr Taylor doesn’t have a licence but was still given 20 demerit points; drivers who receive 100 points in two years are suspended from driving for three months.
“I said I don’t have one. That’s why I ride a bike. He took 20 demerit points off. But I haven’t got a licence,” Mr Taylor told Stuff.
Mr Taylor was also fined $150. He says he has been cycling for 46 years and this was the first time he had been stopped by police.
“I’ve never ever heard of anyone getting a ticket on a bike before,” he added. “My bike’s probably worth $20.”
New Zealand cyclist given points on driving licence for riding through stop sign
Chris Marshall-Bell
November 2, 2016
Despite not having a licence, the cyclist received 20 demerit points
A cyclist in New Zealand was given points on a driving licence that he doesn’t even have because he cycled through a stop sign.
Paul Taylor was riding in Rolleston – just over 20 kilometres from Christchurch – when he failed to come to a halt at a stop sign because he claims a truck was going through the junction behind him so he knew he could pass without any other traffic coming from the right.
But his actions were caught on camera by a police man who pulled him over and asked for his driving licence.
Mr Taylor doesn’t have a licence but was still given 20 demerit points; drivers who receive 100 points in two years are suspended from driving for three months.
“I said I don’t have one. That’s why I ride a bike. He took 20 demerit points off. But I haven’t got a licence,” Mr Taylor told Stuff.
Mr Taylor was also fined $150. He says he has been cycling for 46 years and this was the first time he had been stopped by police.
“I’ve never ever heard of anyone getting a ticket on a bike before,” he added. “My bike’s probably worth $20.”
The fingers
10 TW
http://radar.weather.gov/radar.php?product=NTP&rid=SOX&loop=yes Shoot first, pay later. This story raises so many questions and concerns. How did the dog bite an officer in the hand if he was mounted on horseback at the time? What was the backdrop of his aimpoint when he shot at the dog? Why did he shoot while endangering the public in the surrounding area? What was the incident initially, were they smoking pot or something? The lucky lawyer that gets this case really hit the lotto!
By Rob Hayes
Friday, November 04, 2016 06:32PM
VENICE, LOS ANGELES (KABC) --
A female bystander was accidentally shot in the calf by a bullet that killed a pit bull suspected of biting a mounted Los Angeles police officer's hand in Venice.
LAPD metro mounted officers had approached a group of transients on the Venice Beach Bike Path near Ocean Front Walk and Rose Avenue around 3:30 p.m. It was unclear why the officers approached the group.
At some point, one of the transient's pet pit bull moved toward one of the officers and allegedly bit him on the hand. The officer shot the dog, killing it. Witnesses said the bullet went through the dog and ended up striking a woman in the calf.
She was either hit by the bullet or a bullet fragment, but it was unclear.
Authorities said she was biking down the path and was not involved in the incident when she was suddenly struck. Paramedics treated her at the scene and took her to a nearby hospital.
The bike path was shut down during the investigation.
http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-91842205/
Woman riding bicycle along Venice boardwalk wounded by gunfire after LAPD shoots 'agitated' dog nearby
BY KATE MATHER
November 4, 2016, 7:25 p.m.
A woman riding a bicycle along the Venice boardwalk was wounded by gunfire Friday after a Los Angeles police officer fatally shot an “agitated” dog nearby, LAPD officials said.
The events leading up to the shooting began shortly before 3:30 p.m., police said, when officers on horseback stopped to talk to a group of people along the famed boardwalk near Rose Avenue.
At some point, a woman in the group “became agitated” and started yelling, Det. Meghan Aguilar said. A large dog that was with the group also appeared agitated, Aguilar said, and bit one of the officers. Police shot the dog.
The woman riding a bicycle was wounded in the leg, Aguilar said. It was not immediately clear if she was directly struck by a bullet or hit with fragments, the detective added.
The woman was taken to a hospital for treatment, Aguilar said. The officer bitten by the dog was treated at the scene.
The dog died at the beach, Aguilar said.
http://www.scpr.org/news/2016/11/04/65947/police-kill-dog-bullet-wounds-bicycle-rider-at-ven/
Witnesses say Los Angeles police shot and killed a dog but the bullet went through the animal and wounded a bicycle rider at Venice Beach.
Police confirm that a dog and a woman were shot shortly after 3 p.m. Friday near the famous boardwalk.
KCBS-TV says witnesses report that an argument between homeless people may have prompted a pit bull to begin acting aggressively before it was shot.
A woman told a reporter she was biking on the boardwalk when a bullet went through the dog and struck her in the leg below the knee. She was taken to a hospital but there's no word on her condition.
The station says the dog's owner remained by the side of the dead animal hours after the shooting.
Shoot first, pay later. This story raises so many questions and concerns. How did the dog bite an officer in the hand if he was mounted on horseback at the time? What was the backdrop of his aimpoint when he shot at the dog? Why did he shoot while endangering the public in the surrounding area? What was the incident initially, were they smoking pot or something? The lucky lawyer that gets this case really hit the lotto!By Rob Hayes
Friday, November 04, 2016 06:32PM
VENICE, LOS ANGELES (KABC) --
A female bystander was accidentally shot in the calf by a bullet that killed a pit bull suspected of biting a mounted Los Angeles police officer's hand in Venice.
LAPD metro mounted officers had approached a group of transients on the Venice Beach Bike Path near Ocean Front Walk and Rose Avenue around 3:30 p.m. It was unclear why the officers approached the group.
At some point, one of the transient's pet pit bull moved toward one of the officers and allegedly bit him on the hand. The officer shot the dog, killing it. Witnesses said the bullet went through the dog and ended up striking a woman in the calf.
She was either hit by the bullet or a bullet fragment, but it was unclear.
Authorities said she was biking down the path and was not involved in the incident when she was suddenly struck. Paramedics treated her at the scene and took her to a nearby hospital.
The bike path was shut down during the investigation.
http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-91842205/
Woman riding bicycle along Venice boardwalk wounded by gunfire after LAPD shoots 'agitated' dog nearby
BY KATE MATHER
November 4, 2016, 7:25 p.m.
A woman riding a bicycle along the Venice boardwalk was wounded by gunfire Friday after a Los Angeles police officer fatally shot an “agitated” dog nearby, LAPD officials said.
The events leading up to the shooting began shortly before 3:30 p.m., police said, when officers on horseback stopped to talk to a group of people along the famed boardwalk near Rose Avenue.
At some point, a woman in the group “became agitated” and started yelling, Det. Meghan Aguilar said. A large dog that was with the group also appeared agitated, Aguilar said, and bit one of the officers. Police shot the dog.
The woman riding a bicycle was wounded in the leg, Aguilar said. It was not immediately clear if she was directly struck by a bullet or hit with fragments, the detective added.
The woman was taken to a hospital for treatment, Aguilar said. The officer bitten by the dog was treated at the scene.
The dog died at the beach, Aguilar said.
http://www.scpr.org/news/2016/11/04/65947/police-kill-dog-bullet-wounds-bicycle-rider-at-ven/
Witnesses say Los Angeles police shot and killed a dog but the bullet went through the animal and wounded a bicycle rider at Venice Beach.
Police confirm that a dog and a woman were shot shortly after 3 p.m. Friday near the famous boardwalk.
KCBS-TV says witnesses report that an argument between homeless people may have prompted a pit bull to begin acting aggressively before it was shot.
A woman told a reporter she was biking on the boardwalk when a bullet went through the dog and struck her in the leg below the knee. She was taken to a hospital but there's no word on her condition.
The station says the dog's owner remained by the side of the dead animal hours after the shooting.
