The reason for this website, My experience
Month of Ride:
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.
Read More about this ticket here
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.
Read More about this ticket here
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.
Similar Experience
Jacob thanks for making your incident public. I had a similar, although not quite as violent, experience last Sunday, June 24, 2007.
My partner and I were riding southbound on the West Side Trail (a designated cycling trail) around 7PM. As we approached the Christopher Street Pier the crowds started to thicken and I noticed that the NYPD had, in an effort to manage the post-Gay Pride parade crowds, had placed barricades along West Street preventing access to the street from the trail and Hudson River park. As we continued about two miles southbound along the trail, the crowds grew more dense but there remained enough room for us to cycle safely.
Close the foot of the Christopher Street Pier we were stopped by a barricade blocking the West Side Trail. There was to be no access to the trail or access to West street. I pleaded with the officers stating that we could easily ride with traffic and/or cross West Street - we had our helmets, lights etc. They refused. We were essentially trapped. The only other alternative would be for us to walk through extremely thick crowds along the Pier with our bikes. Keep in mind the people were packed in tighter than a dance floor on a Saturday night! It would be nearly impossible to move forward without bike pedals, handles, wheels etc. scapping and jabbing people in the crowd. As I continued to plead with the officer I (admittedly) made the mistake of suggesting that the officer use his discretion and common sense and allow us access to either the trail or the street. Whoops.
I readily admit that I should not have done this but I think the ensuing reaction was not warranted. The officer pushed me back into my bike (which I had been leaning against) causing the back of my leg to scrape against the chainring. The officer demanded I provide my I.D. or he would throw me in jail. After giving him my I.D. the officer returned came twenty minutes later with two summons'. One for Disorderly Conduct and another for Failure to Comply w/ Lawful order.
I have contacted the CCRB and am pleading not guilty to both counts. Do you have any advice? Should I seek legal counsel? What can I do to make officers more accountable for their actions?
Thanks for any suggestions you might have.
By the way, my comment is
By the way, my comment is intended without judgment on Critical Mass itself. I have yet to form an opinion on your organization and whether or not the NYPD's enforcement is necessary or not. I merely think your own behavior and that of some of your co-cyclists during police stops is outrageously idiotic, and to then complain about your self-inflicted "ordeal" is even more absurd. IMHO, of course, hope to read your response.
You won't like hearing this
You won't like hearing this but that video makes you look like a self-righteous and arrogant schmuck. If you are the subject of a police stop and you are ordered to cease whatever actions you're currently taking, you either follow that order or reasonable force may be used to gain compliance. A video camera can easily be used to strike an officer, thusly he is more than justified in ordering you to stop taping and put it down, as it is a potentially dangerous instrument. Officers do this all the time and with good reason. Therefore, if you fail to comply, particularly after multiple requests, the officer may terminate your offending behavior. If that means slapping your camera out of your hand, then so be it. You had numerous chances to put it down on your own. Instead you felt the need to play the old "I have rights and I'm not doing anything wrong so I won't comply, officer" game of escalation, which always ends in you losing and the police winning. If you think you're right and the police are wrong in a given situation, you are still required to comply under the law. Plead your case, if you have one, in court or after the police stop is completed. The middle of such a stop is not a forum for debate and the police will not look kindly on your attempts to use it as such. Sure, it may be frustrating, but it's the law. And judging by the video footage I viewed, you were entirely in the wrong anyway.
Seriously, even a pre-law student could figure this one out. Use some common sense and look at your situation through the eyes of a reasonable person, not one who thinks everything the NYPD does is an extension of some fascist agenda against you and your precious bicycle. Because in reality you only have your own ridiculous posturing to blame for this incident.
Pre-law students
I just wanted to point this out simply for the irony, really.
Your comment
Seriously, even a pre-law student could figure this one out.
My ordeal was witnessed by a new-to-New York bystander that was a Law student. He stuck around to watch my ordeal because he was in awe of what the NYPD was doing. That law student eventually became my witness at my first trial (which I won) and in my ongoing formal compliant (CCRB) against the NYPD.
So I agree. From that video I do look like an arrogant jackass that is challenging the law but when bystanders stop, take notice and then take the time to become a court witness on your behalf something else might have happened.
I can't agree with your comment that a "pre-law" student could easily see that this was against common-sense.
Perhaps you had to have been there.
Again thanks for the comments. They are helpful!
Keep Riding!
-Jacob
I understand..
I think you might have misunderstood what happened that night. I wasn't struck by the officer that was "arresting" me I was struck by a superior officer whom, before and after hitting me, didn't acknowledge me nor address me.
If I had been warned, even briefly, this might have been a different scene but I wasn't warned.
You're correct when you state that if an officer asks you to stop doing whatever action it is your doing you should stop. Unless, of course, that action is completely legal. No one should ever purposely aggravate a situation.
The piece did make me look arrogant and like a law-challenging jackass.When I reviewed the footage with the reporter similar comments were made and we both analyzed them. However the reported still came to the conclusion that an injustice, regardless of my actions, had been committed. I could have acted differently and in the future I most likely will. Adrenaline can be bitch sometimes.
To your point, however, I have gone to court for that incident and the Officer was found to be in the wrong (i.e. The judge agreed with my actions). I was exonerated of all wrongdoing.
Without that video, that is if I had stopped filming and quietly obeyed the officer, I wouldn't have had the evidence to prove that the officer was in the wrong. Or in short I would have been found guilty, fined and the Officer would have had liberty to do what he did again to someone else.
I understand where your comments are coming from and for the most part I agree with them. Unfortunately, however, the police force still hasn't reached a point where the public can 100% trust their judgment. So incidents like this have to be brought up. Sure it is not always going to be glamorous but they must still be brought up.
Also you should understand, and it is seems as though you do, the video available on the Internet is not the entire incident. Unfortunately lawyers have requested that a large chunk of the footage remain off the Internet until the legal actions have been completed.
Legal action against a city or a police force is a long process and until it is complete the general public is often left out in the dark about all of the details.
Its sad, I wish it wasn't the case but... such is life.
Seriously though. I really do understand your comment. I'm glad that you took the time to write out what a lot of other people are thinking. If we all thought the exact same way this would be a really boring world.
-Jacob Redding
keep up the free voice...
I just wanted to acknowledge reading your ordeal and show support for you at in cyberland...
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