The August 2006 ride started off very well. The cops weren't being too much of a hassle and things were going surprisingly good. Within 30 minutes of the ride, however, things took a dramatic turn for the worse.

After riding for a few blocks the mass took a left turn down a side road. Unfortunately an officer on a scooter was blocking the crosswalk and causing an inconvenience to the riders and to the pedestrians. I very politely asked the officer to move aside. He moved aside and I thanked him for doing so.

Even though there was no sarcasm in my voice the officer didn't take kindly to my suggestion and followed my for the next half a block. After scanning my bicycle up and down for "violations" he noticed that I didn't have my light on my bike. He promptly pulled me over and instructed another officer to write me a ticket for not having a light.

I wasn't allowed to put the light on my bike (i.e. to correct my action) even though I had a light mount on my bicycle and I had a light with me. The officer wasn't interested in the safety or well being of the public. He made a point to inconvenience me and to break up the ride.

It took over 20 minutes for the officer to write me a bogus ticket. It served no other purpose than prevent me, and others, from riding with the Critical mass ride. Ultimately attempting to separate the ride to break it up.

I videotaped the entire incident and the video demonstrates the massive waste of police resources. I was appalled by their actions.
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After I was "released" I continued riding and attempted to catch up with the ride. At around 3rd and 41st (or thereabouts) I had almost caught up to the ride. Unfortunately one or two blocks in front of me I watched as the NYPD blocked traffic with several unmarked cars. Out of these cars many white shirts (highly paid lieutenants) piled out and started grabbing cyclists off of their bicycles.

The 30 or so cyclists left on the ride were surprisingly calm and did nothing more than to dismount and get onto the sidewalk. The NYPD officers, however, still continued to grab people. I was filming the event as it unfolded in front of me and I decided to dismount and run forward into the fray to catch the craziness of the NYPD.

I felt it was important that the NYPD's actions were videotaped for everyone else to see. Unfortunately as I ran forward to film I was detained.

The officers told me I was receiving a summons and when I refused to shut off my camera I was hit from behind by a senior officer. This officer never addressed me, never asked me to stop filming and even after hitting me never spoke a word to me.

Although my camera was smashed I continued filming. The officers repeatedly told me that I was receiving a summons but refused to tell me what I did wrong. I was detained for 45 minutes before they told me that I was receiving a summons for "going the wrong way down a one way road". When I pointed out that I had video showing the contrary they changed the story and wrote the ticket for "Obstruction of Vehicular Traffic".

Actually the Traffic code violation number was for "Obstruction of Pedestrian Traffic" and the description was written as "Obstruction of Vehicular Traffic". Maybe they were hedging their bets with the judge that would ultimately decide on the ticket.
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After my incident I decided that the NYC Critical Mass community needed a way to demonstrate the craziness of the NYPD with rock hard numbers. Numbers that we can show to the press, city council members and the world.

CMTickets was born on that night

This is one of the many ways that we can fight back against the NYPD!

It is my hope that we can capture data from the past and from the present day so that we can take this data to the city council, the press and anyone else that will listen. Hopefully this encourages the NYPD to work with the bicycling community in New York City instead of working against it.

If you have any suggestions on how we can make this site better, please let me know (Click on "Contact Us" at the bottom of the site.

Update: Both of my tickets were thrown out in court, I also took my case to the press and to the Civilian Complaint Review Board.
Watch the WCBS piece of this incident here.