Brutality Bad for All Cops
To the Editor:

After reading your article, "PBA Leader Defends Cops Charged in Brutality Cases" (Aug. 8 issue), I viewed the YouTube video a second time in an attempt to see the scene in the way PBA President Patrick Lynch described it in your article. Mr. Lynch's description of both the cyclist's and the officer's behavior is so far from what is actually recorded on the video that it would be laughable if it were not so serious.

Police officers are public servants who have a great deal of power over ordinary citizens. They, like politicians, work for us, and we should have no tolerance for unnecessary violence or abuse of power.

While it may be Mr. Lynch's job to defend his membership, it is shameful for him to distort the fact that Police Officer Pogan committed an unprovoked, unwarranted assault on a bicyclist. Mr. Lynch is not doing any favors for the overwhelming majority of police officers who would shun the kind of outright brutality that is plainly evident on the video.

There is no question in my mind that Officer Pogan ought to be fired, and perhaps prosecuted, for his assault on the bicyclist.

ELLEN BITKOWER, Computer Specialist, Department of Sanitation