No jail time, no probation, no community service…that was the sentencing for ex-police officer Patrick Pogan today, ending a long drawn out legal circus in NYC. Pogan was the guy who body checked Christopher Long in Time’s Square during a critical mass ride and was caught on video tape by a tourist. The video shocked the nation and began a long legal battle which awarded Christopher Long a settlement and Pogan lost his job.
Here is a story from the NY Post.
Bike-push cop spared jail, probation in punishment-free sentencing
By LAURA ITALIANO
Posted: 3:13 PM, July 14, 2010
It’s no jail, no probation and no community service for notorious, caught-on-video bike-push cop Patrick Pogan.
At an emotional sentencing today, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Maxwell Wiley let the 24-year-old ex-rookie walk out of court, in tears, without any penalty whatsoever — besides having suffered through what Pogan himself called “this nightmare.”
“I hope to put this nightmare behind me and to prove to you that I am a highly productive member of society,” the young ex-cop had told the judge.
Pogan was a third generation officer who, ten days on the job, was captured by civilian video violently shoving a Critical Mass cyclist off his bike and to the pavement in Times Square two years ago.
Acquitted of the shove — Pogan had testified in April that he was only following police orders to stop law-breaking cyclists by whatever means necessary — he’d been convicted of a felony for lying on paperwork to frame the cyclist for assault.
Read more: here.
I’m not really sure how to feel on this one…Critical Mass is basically over in NYC, Cops will continue to harass cyclists, lawsuits will continue.
So what’s your opinion? This week’s poll:
