A cyclist in New York has a harrowing tale about a literal run-in with a police officer. Christina Thede says that she was biking home when a man in a double parked car suddenly opened his door. She braked so hard that a delivery biker ran into her. She yelled at the driver that he should watch what he was doing and continued on. The man proceeded to chase her and arrested her. He is a New York police officer.
Here is her account from the article below:
He was driving after me and I was scared. He kept slowing down alongside me, so I cut all the way over to the left lane. But he angrily skidded to a stop in front of me, pulling his car perpendicular to traffic in the left lane. Then I got off my bike and tried to walk my bike onto the sidewalk because I wasn’t going to run out into traffic. That’s when he grabbed the back of my bike and started pulling it.
He didn’t say he was a cop and I thought, ‘This guy’s crazy, he’s attacking me!’ I screamed for help and he started restraining my arms and holding me so I couldn’t move. People on the street stopped and started asking him what he was doing. I did not hear him say he was a police officer or see any indication he was a police officer, so I was terrified. Then an NYPD squad car arrived and my initial thought was that they were going to save me from this guy; I figured the bystanders had called 911.
She was wrong. They put her in cuffs and confirmed that they were from the Central Park precinct. The officer is identified only as “Sgt. Santiago.” She was charged with reckless operation of a bicycle and disorderly conduct.
She says that he told her that, when she avoided his car door, she went into traffic and that was reckless.
This seems to be an ongoing war between New York police and bicyclists. New York officers have been previously accused of charging bicyclists with trumped up charges to cover misconduct (here and here) as well as false charges in criminal cases (here).
Source: Gothamist
Pete,
I would guess that they impounded the bike, but with these dirty cops, who knows?!
contempt of cop trumps all other crimes
wonder if they impounded her bike and how much that will cost her or did they just leave it there.
rcampbell,
Thanks for the cite and for posting it on this thread too for I had missed it on the other one.
Police brutality is as old as time. The only reason “nice” people are even mentioning incidents like this one is because the Internet
provides the education they never acquired from corporate media.
Blouise
I see you’re posting this morning. I left this post at the thread about Sandra Day O’Connor, but wanted to make sure you saw it, so I’m including it here as well.
rcampbell … could you possibly cite a place I can find that quote … I don’t doubt what you are telling us but I would love to be able to cite it. Oh boy, would I ever love to be able to cite it.
My wife read this in the book, “The Nine”.
Just getting my beak wet,when you **GET** hit and sustain injuries you get a tissue.And a marked car no less.
rafflaw,
“I guess she should be happy that they didn’t shoot or Taze her!”
I thought the same thing when I read that she was walking her bike to the sidewalk …
I suppose if she did hit the door, he would have stood over her bruised and bleeding body and asked what she had against car doors …
Wanna bet the charges are dismissed.
One could suggest that he was allegedly attempting to force her to commit suicide by traffic. But I would never suggest such a thing. One could suggest that by not announcing himself as a policeman he was allegedly trying to force her into physically attacking him. But I would never suggest such a thing.
Whatever he was attempting to accomplish, when the charges are dismissed he will have utterly failed. Never going to win a war with soldiers like that … a girl on a bike beat you dude and that makes you a total wuss.
I guess she should be happy that they didn’t shoot or Taze her! This is a disgrace. Who controls these policemen?
If the NYPD war was only with bicyclists we’d have a manageable problem. Unfortunately, anyone who knowingly or unknowingly crosses a cop — even one who is off-duty and drunk — risks arrest and worse.
At least one NYPD officer who documented widespread abuses was disappeared into a mental institution as retribution.
Well…this is NEW YOURK CITY…after all…. Do the cops ever do wrong unless a video is present… They do no wrong…like Judges in courtrooms without videos… Its what they say…