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NYC Police Officer Bodychecks Cyclist

By Ryan McGreal
Published July 31, 2008

Cycling in Hamilton: it could always be worse.

Naturally, the police officer, 22-year-old Patrick Pogan, charged the victim, 29-year-old Christopher Long, with attempted assault, resisting arrest, and disorderly conduct.

Long was held for 26 hours before being released on July 26, 2008.

Pogan claimed in court documents that Long was "forcing multiple vehicles to stop abruptly or change their direction to avoid hitting the defendant."

However, once the anonymously filmed video posted on YouTube surfaced, the NYPD stripped Pogan of his badge and moved him to desk work pending an investigation.

Pogan is a former football offensive lineman and a third generation police officer.

According to his father, Detective Patrick Pogan Sr. (who had not seen the video), "He's my son. I'm proud of him. He's third-generation that's been serving the city. These people are taking over the streets and impeding the flow of traffic. Then you gotta do what you gotta do."

Ryan McGreal, the editor of Raise the Hammer, lives in Hamilton with his family and works as a programmer, writer and consultant. Ryan volunteers with Hamilton Light Rail, a citizen group dedicated to bringing light rail transit to Hamilton. Ryan wrote a city affairs column in Hamilton Magazine, and several of his articles have been published in the Hamilton Spectator. His articles have also been published in The Walrus, HuffPost and Behind the Numbers. He maintains a personal website, has been known to share passing thoughts on Twitter and Facebook, and posts the occasional cat photo on Instagram.

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By Shakes head (anonymous) | Posted July 31, 2008 at 12:03:39

Glad to see Pogan's football tackling skills are still coming in handy. :P

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By Al R. (anonymous) | Posted July 31, 2008 at 15:45:40

This is so retarded that even the conservative blogs are bashing this cop...

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By seancb (registered) - website | Posted July 31, 2008 at 23:20:16

Wow.. take a look at the cop's report before the video surfaced: http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/yea...

"... Deponent [cop] further states that upon instructing the defendant to cease the above-described conduct [riding in the middle of a lane], the defendant steered the defendant's bicycle in the direction of the deponent [cop] and drove defendant's bicycle directly into deponent [cop]'s body, causing deponent [cop] to fall to the ground and causing deponent [cop] to suffer lacerations on deponent [cop]'s forearms."

Talk about living in an alternate reality! How about: "Deponent rammed deponent's forearms into defendant's body, knocking defendant to the ground whereupon deponent got angry that defendant caused deponent's arms to hurt, so deponent used excessive force to illegally detain defendant and deponent lied on report to cover deponent's ass. Deponent now works at the desk, until deponent is found guilty of assault at which point deponent will no longer be employed by the police force."

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By NFL (anonymous) | Posted August 01, 2008 at 11:40:47

Nice hit!

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By MickyTrain (anonymous) | Posted August 01, 2008 at 14:53:19

Bleh, that piece of crap with a badge needs to go to jail for physical assault and perjury.

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By Vic (anonymous) | Posted August 01, 2008 at 15:54:32

Wow. Sounds like the screenplay for a made-for-TV movie! Just needs a little more fluff around the edges, and you've got a "winner"!

Seriously . . . third generation, same name as his father, performing a "service" which seems mostly dedicated to getting dear old daddy to love the football-player-turned-cop son . . . truth is often stranger than fiction.

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By not liking critical mass (anonymous) | Posted August 05, 2008 at 13:03:47

This video was posted by an organization which has been in lawsuits filed by and against the city for some years now for their involvement in these "Critical Mass" events, which they deny they organize. They claim the videotape was sold to them by an "anonymous tourist" in a clandestine meeting after some mysterious person passed them a crumpled note with nothing more than a phone number on it, which they also apparently no longer have. They also contend this "anonymous tourist" wouldn't give them the original videotape, but only permitted them to copy this one small "clip".

I'm also skeptical of that alleged police deposition which appeared in The Smoking Gun. If that really is the police officer's actual deposition, then why isn't his signature on it? Anyone can type up a piece of paper, but it's not actually "sworn to" until it's signed.

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By jon q marine (anonymous) | Posted August 05, 2008 at 16:40:06

By not liking critical mass -

I hope you're joking. If you really think there is some sort of backstory to this criminal beatdown, you are either living in a dreamworld, or you work for the NYPD. Most likely, both are true...

Christopher Long is an army veteran, organic farmer, and believer in what he thinks is right. What is Pogan? Most likely little more than a self-entitled 3rd generation POS NYPD punk from Long Island... just another piece of trash who will hopefully get body-slammed by the justice system.

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