The Tape Doesn't Lie

The explanations given by Police Officer Patrick Pogan and Patrolman's Benevolent Association President Pat Lynch for Mr. Pogan's use of force against a bicyclist in Times Square bring to mind the old joke about a guy whose wife catches him in bed with another woman.

"Who you gonna believe?" the guy asks her. "Me, or your lying eyes?"

Officer Pogan on July 25 was detailed to monitor a monthly bike rally by Critical Mass, a cyclists' group that has had a tense relationship with the NYPD since the Republican National Convention in 2004. He claimed in a sworn affidavit that one cyclist, Christopher Long, created a traffic hazard and, when he tried to stop him, deliberately crashed his bike into the officer.

But a videotape that has been widely viewed on YouTube and the local news tells a radically different story. It shows Officer Pogan purposefully striding toward Mr. Long as he rides along and then delivering a body-block that would have made the highlight reels on ESPN if it occurred during a football game.

Unfortunately for Officer Pogan, a former high school football player, such conduct out on the street is not part of the game in such circumstances. Mayor Bloomberg labeled it "over the top and inappropriate." Police Commissioner Ray Kelly used softer but perhaps more-ominous rhetoric when he told a reporter, "I have no explanation" for the cop's action.

Mr. Lynch tried to go on the offensive, saying Officer Pogan "observed the reckless actions of a specific individual weaving in and out of traffic and creating a hazardous condition for the public and took action. You will note that in the video that instead of slowing down or stopping as any reasonable person would when the officer approached, this rider dropped his shoulder in an attempt to avoid arrest by plowing into the officer's chest, which resulted in the officer pushing him away."

It is expected that a union leader will defend one of his members who is in trouble. But Mr. Lynch's view of the tape is unusual, to say the least; for any reasonably objective person, his claim that it was the cyclist "plowing" into the cop makes sense only if you believe that Michael Spinks battered Mike Tyson two decades ago by repeatedly using his chin to strike Mr. Tyson's fists.

In some respects, the videotape is not definitive. It offers a limited view of the cyclist's path, and so it cannot be determined whether he had in fact been creating a hazard for motorists before Officer Pogan approached him. There is also no indication as to whether Officer Pogan addressed Mr. Long at any point. It also cannot be determined how fast Mr. Long was going, and whether he reasonably could've stopped the bike as Officer Pogan moved into his path, rather than trying swerve away from him before the body-block was delivered.

Given that last uncertainty, it might have been possible for Officer Pogan to claim that when he became convinced that a collision was inevitable, he tried to avoid taking the brunt of it by initiating the contact. That would have been a tough sell for many people seeing the video, but it would have created enough of an element of doubt that he might have gotten the benefit of it from the NYPD.

That is not the way Officer Pogan told it, however. He claimed Mr. Long forced the crash, when the video clearly shows him launching his own body at the cyclist. Our guess is that Mr. Kelly's comment is an indication that he already has concluded that Officer Pogan compounded an improper use of force with a blatant lie. To allow a rookie cop to remain on the job after an incident and an account like that would send the wrong message not only to the public but to the rest of the police force.

Another tape that surfaced last week showed Police Officer David London beating a handcuffed man with a baton while the man was being held down by his partner. Officer London has been stripped of his gun and badge while awaiting disciplinary action.

The Police Department has looked to increasingly take advantage of the proliferation of video evidence, whether from security cameras or citizens' cell phones, as a crime-fighting tool. Mr. Kelly plans to start a program encouraging members of the public to submit videotape which can serve as an asset to cops, particularly in neighborhoods where witnesses may be reluctant to come forward and testify in court but the video can provide more-effective help both in apprehending suspects and proving their crimes.

The potential downside for cops of the additional availability of pictures of what goes on in the streets is that the days when some of them could use excessive force and get away with it as long as they didn't break ranks may be in jeopardy.

There has been conflict between the NYPD and the Civilian Complaint Review Board over cases in which the CCRB upheld allegations of police misconduct but the department didn't punish the officers involved, with one top police official saying CCRB staff didn't understand the complexities of working on the streets.

There may be validity to that argument. That is not going to help cops, however, when video is produced of them clearly crossing the line and then lying about it. We would have to wonder whether Mr. Lynch, in so stridently defending the actions of one member when this would not have seemed like a case for the PBA to go to the wall over, was drawing attention to it so that this message registered loud and clear with all those he represents.

 

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