Cyclist body slammed by NYPD cop sues for $1.5 million

July 9, 2009 @ 12:16AM

Cyclist body slammed by NYPD cop sues for $1.5 million

By Carlos Miller -...

Life is filled with improbable moments that can change the course of your intended destiny in a split second.

Take the case of Christopher Long who was participating in a Critical Mass bicycle ride through Times Square last summer. The then-29-year-old New Jersey native doesn’t appear to have ever have stepped into a weight room or a courtroom.

Christopher Long was working at an organic farmer's market at the time of his arrest. Today, he works on a farm in Wisconsin.

In fact, he is probably more comfortable farming organic vegetables than he is framing a legal argument.

It is safe to say that the last thing on his mind that day was that he would be body slammed by a New York City Police Officer, then thrown in jail for 26 hours on charges of assault, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct.

Then there is Patrick Pogan, the NYPD officer in question. He was 22 years old at the time and had been on the force all of three weeks. As a third-generation NYPD cop, Pogan knew he had a lot of power with that badge. And the former high school football player wasn’t going to waste any time to use it.

Patrick Pogan, third generation NYPD cop, had been on the force just three weeks when he body-slammed Long off his bike. He is now facing prison time.

It is safe to say that the last thing he expected was for someone to be filming the exact spot where he chose to body-slam Long for no apparent reason before conjuring false charges against him.

And as for the videographer, it appears that he was just filming the Critical Mass for his own documenation. It doesn’t appear that he is a member of any activist copwatch group who were out to document abuses by cops against cyclists, as other videographers have done in the past. It doesn’t appear that he is one to rock the boat because he has not even publicly acknowledged documenting the incident.

But it is safe to say that knows right from wrong. Good from bad. Truth from lies. Which is why he chose to upload the video.

Thanks to his video, the charges against Long were dropped. Thanks to his video, Pogan is now the one facing criminal charges. Even prison time.

And thanks to his video, Long is now suing the City of New York for $1.5 million instead of drowning in debt trying to prove his innocence.

It is safe to say that neither one of them pictured this scenario when they woke up that fateful morning.

Comments

Anonymous

2 years ago

What about the second cop in the video? He’s a witness to everything. Was he also fired?

Anonymous

2 years ago

/me waits in anticipation for jones’s rebuttal.

Anonymous

2 years ago

Oh, I’ve been following this guy.

http://iminurfortkillingurdudes.blogspot.com/2009/06/very-handy-tool.html

The webcrin site is handy when it loads. Pogan is due up again on September 17 (his case keeps getting moved on down for some reason…)

Anonymous

2 years ago

I’m a little behind on Carlos’ videos, so I just saw the video o the girl in Seatle get beaten. The first question in my mind there, as here, is what happens to the cop who doesn’t file a report about the attacking cop? Why aren’t they held as accomplices?

Anonymous

2 years ago

Where are the cop defenders on this one? Oh, maybe he was giving the cop the finger and that’s not on video!

Hopefully this cop gets what’s coming to him and I’m glad the videographer had the guts to post it since just posting such things can subject you to harassment these days.

Anonymous

2 years ago

@Dfister

Luckily for the videographer especially, he was a tourist, so he can remain anonymous and doesn’t close enough that anyone from the NYPD can harass him.

Anonymous

2 years ago

The cop is a piece of shit but many of these Critical Mass participants are dicks too.

Some dude drinking and biking: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33kz-cuojFU

Doing doughnuts in the intersection and harassing drivers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hemN2KfJLw

A similar mass ride blowing through an intersection in LA. Drinking is encouraged on these rides: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXvqwva-ChQ

Crazy stuff.

Anonymous

2 years ago

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Anonymous

2 years ago

@Spokker That idiot with the camera wants him to chug a Guinness pub can? Frat boy from LA indeed. Safer to drink a Guinness while riding than some idiot riding after chugging crap Natty Light. Here, the cyclist still has more class than that idiot recording.

As for the others: CM is made up of individuals. Yeah, some are dicks. Some aren’t. Depends on the city and the people. This varies greatly.

Also, http://www.midnightridazz.com/ isn’t exactly the same thing (last video) as CM. Neither is .83 for that matter.

Anonymous

2 years ago

It’s really like this isn’t news anymore.
“falsifying documents” by the police and everything else that goes along with the “security clause” or reason for lying created by big brother.

Anonymous

2 years ago

If you post your mailing address I would like to donate money to your legal fund.