Cop Who Shoved Cyclist Fired by NYPD, Faces 4 Year Sentence
The police officer who was infamously caught on camera tackling a bicyclist in New York City was fired on February 10th, seven months after the original incident.
As we reported here on Planetsave, former officer Patrick Pogan, 23, has been arraigned under charges of falsifying records. We’ve now learned that he has plead not guilty to the charges in Manhattan court and could face up to 4 years in prison if convicted.
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The Manhattan District Attorney said that the YouTube video footage along with witness accounts clearly contradicted Pogan’s claim that the cyclist was “obstructing government administration” and resisting arrest. The cyclist had charges dropped soon after the video became available.
Pogan was a rookie officer and he has still not given a legitimate explanation as to why he tackled the cyclist. We have learned that he was an offensive lineman on his high school football team — perhaps that could explain a bit?
The power of YouTube footage also came in handy recently with the case of a teenage boy who decided to upload footage of himself torturing a cat. Once the video spread, people from various message boards and social media websites traced the boy’s name and location, eventually resulting in his arrest. He and his brother, who filmed the abuse, have been charged with two counts of animal cruelty.
If you’re not one of the 2 million people who have seen the footage of the cyclist tackle, check it out below.
UPDATE: The New York Times is reporting that Pogan’s lawyer claims that Pogan “resigned” from the force and was not fired, contrary to the statement released by the police department. Also, I’ve made a small correction — it has only been about 7 months since the incident, not over 18 months. Silly me, I’ll have to use a calculator next time I try such a tricky math problem late at night.
Via: Daily News Photo Credit: Doug Letterman on Flickr under Creative Commons license.
If that cop goes to jail, he’s gonna P.C. up (protective custody, or “punk city”) to get around the cop hatred in there.
So, the only thing he’ll have to worry about is the kitchen detail spitting in his in-room meals.
And he’ll probably only serve a few months, anyway.
Too bad. What he did was uncalled for. Too bad that people don’t have their cameras ALL the time, because you know that the same corrupt shit is happening somewhere in America at this moment, without damnable footage to back up the victim/suspects.
Seriously, give me ONE GOOD REASON that the officer had for pacing up to the guy and then biffing him off of his bike before he could continue down the road with the other cyclists.
This cop needs to be punished to the full extent of the law. Just think if no one had videotaped the incident, or if YouTube did not exist — the poor cyclist might have been convicted, ended up in jail. Career ruined, no chance of a decent job for the rest of his life. Oh, and that is if he isn’t as* rap*d to death in prison. Even if he wasn’t convicted, the charge would remain on record effectively destroying any promising career. And he’d probably be bankrupt of legal charges defending himself.
The cops now days are hired for their IQs. Must be below average to apply. That way they don’t question authority and deem themselves above everyone else.
why the hell would the cop do something like that? he oughta be fired, have a mental evaluation and be put in jail for a couple months.
I’m not going to overreact and say something stupid like “fuck cops”.
But I will say fuck *bad* cops like this douche bag. They should punish him in the worst possible way: lock him in the room with a drunken, angry and bicurious Kayne West for 45 minutes.
what a f*cking douchebag. there are good cops and clearly there are sh!theads with badges. i am soooo glad this was caught on camera. you would think cops would be smarter than this? i hope this guy gets a cell with the sisters. i would like to see the youtube presentation of officer cockbag getting buggered during his stay in jail. i suggest using a broom handle as the guy probably has anal warts.
I don’t have a problem with the cop body checking that biker (nice shot btw LOL) but I do have a problem with the cop lying about it.
I have never seen that video before but WTF.
I think the cop got sick of people driving around him so close but heres an idea, GET OUT OF THE ROAD!
well, living in a North American city where over half the space is taken up with cars, asphalt streets and parking lots, and the population of pedestrians and bikers have to fight over the remaining space, I admit to a certain bias, watching that guy get steamrolled by the big fat bully in blue. I think is was symbolic. America, the big bloated, armed bully, consuming a sizable chunk of the world’s resources to feed it’s addiction to gas guzzling metal fortresses on wheels. I’m glad someone’s watching the watchers.