Faces up to 4 years behind bars
A former New York City policeman was unable to convince a jury that he was knocked down by a bicyclist at a Critical Mass bike ride two years ago.
Perhaps it was what jurors saw in this YouTube video that shows Patrick Pogan taking out cyclist Christopher Long. It has been watched more than 2.3 million times.
Pogan was convicted of filing a criminal complaint that contained false statements — essentially that the cyclist knocked him down by steering his bicycle into him. Clearly, it was the other way around.
Sentence
Pogan faces a maximum four-year jail term in sentencing, scheduled for June 23. He was acquitted of an assault charge.
The cyclist told the New York Times that he was satisfied with the verdict, because it meant that Pogan couldn't become a police officer again. (He'd been on the force for 11 days at the time of the incident):
“The worst of it is he lied, and fortunately the jury saw it that way and convicted him on those charges.”
The head of Times Up!, a bicycling advocacy group in New York City, said that he hoped the verdict would help change the way cyclists are treated by police.
Bikes removed
How likely is that? Just last week, NYPD swept the route of President Obama's parade through the city and removed dozens of bicycles, piled them into a flatbed truck, and carted them off.
The police maintain they posted “no parking” warnings two days ahead of the parade, but it didn't say that bikes were part of the parking limitations.
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