Another "Dog and Pony Show" trick by the NYPD. Make riders stop in an intersection and force them to decide which ticket to take. One for blocking the intersection or one for going through a Red Light.

I was riding south on Broadway on the left side of the road with a few other riders. There were maybe 10 or 12 of us, and we were stopped, as we rode up, by a large number of cops on motorcycles who immediately targeted people with cameras and then started writing us tickets. We were riding next to some barricades that separated a pedestrian walkway from the road, and we were in a lane that has the picture of the bicycle, showing us that just through the traffic light (where we were stopped) is where the bike lane begins. The cops demanded our IDs and would not say why, then spent a long time writing tickets, talking amongst themselves. They returned our IDs with tickets, such as "failure to stay to curb" and "riding abreast of another cyclist." When I asked what I had been doing wrong, since I had been riding in the road, as I am allowed to do, the cop ignored me several times and then said, "You'll have to take it up in court" and walked away.
It was pretty clear that the cops had been waiting there for critical mass riders and that they didn't care what they were giving tickets for.

meet at union square north.
start by going east, 0.1 miles
turn left at union square west
proceed south, 0.2 miles
stop at E 15th.
dismount from bicycle.
place hands behind back.
placed in shackles
sit on curb
those feeling in right thumb
ticket issued
thank officer
released from hand cuffs
on merry way.
give friend who brought you to your first critical mass major league shit.

Riding with several dozen other riders eastbound on 40th street, just after crossing Park Avenue, a police officer on a scooter nudged me over to the right hand side of the street. After some delay and discussion with three other scooter cops who were standing around he gave me the ticket and explained that it was for "not riding to the right hand side of the street."
I pointed out that I had been riding to the right hand side of the street, or as near as I could get to it on the opposite side of a row of parked cars. A concerned witness observing from the sidewalk also pointed out this fact. The police officer did not reply.
After returning home (having lost the other riders) and reading up on the exact rule cited on the ticket I have realized that even if I had not been riding to the right or left side of the street RCNY 4-12(p)3 does not constitute a valid citation as it does not enjoin cyclists from doing anything at all. Instead, it merely states that they may ride to the right or left of certain one-way streets.

Update: This was dismissed in traffic court, 6/4/07. The cop showed up to the hearing and claimed to have no recollection of the offense and thus it was dismissed.

The ticket was for failure to ride in a bike lane, although there is no bike lane on Park Avenue South. One police officer seemed all too eager to give me a ticket. The police officer who actually wrote the ticket seemed less enthused about giving me a ticket, especially with all the media at the intersection.

The police wanted us to move out of the area, even as we were being ticketed. I was interviewed by the media and was told to leave. The police did not want any riders in the area.

I have to go to a hearing tomorrow, June 4th. I don't know what's up the NYPD's asses.

we left union square and headed south - the light turned red, and about 10 or 15 of us stopped, and were quickly surrounded by police. there were no cars on the road......

I was just trying to safely move out of the traffic lanes.

The only time I was not in control of my bike was when I was pushed off it.

For the March CM ride I was wearing #19 T-Shirt of the set of 49 shirts given out at the start of the ride. After the police intervention at Park Ave South and 18th St, I was riding solo uptown. Ran into a group of less than 12 cyclists at Park Ave south of 40th St, who were shadowed by about 6 scooter cops. I rode with this group as it turned east on 40th St, to 3rd Ave. We stopped for the red light at 3rd, waiting on the left side of this single lane street, to make a left turn. Note, a very large Hampton Jitney bus was parked on the right side of 40th partly filling the roadway lane on the right - there was insufficient room for a bike and motror vehicle to share this part of the roadway.

Cyclists mixed with motor scooters turned left onto uptown 3rd Ave. Cyclists were all moving across to the right side side of 3rd to use the right lane. I was approximately 50 to 75 feet north of the 40th St intersection and in the nest to the right hand lane when a Scooter Officer yelled "Number 19 Pull Over." We stopped on the right side of the roadway.
I believe that I was stopped for being #19.)

Note that the officer consulted with his Sergent about filling out this ticket - so his selection of the cited NYS VTL versus the correct NYC code may have been reviewed by his senior officer.

This ticket took about 20 minutes to write out. At the same time, a platoon of about 18 scooter cops was assembling on the SE corner of 40th and 3rd Ave - the Officer was part of this platoon. It appears that the Officer wanted to get in a collar just before he had to stop for his unit's assembly here.
The officer demanded my identification but I insited to know why he stopped me before handing over ID. Finally, reluctantly, the officer said that I was pulled over for failure to ride on the right side. Telling him he was wrong, I gave him my ID. The Officer was not particularly abusive, but was clearly clueless as to the traffic laws and particularly to the bicycle traffic laws.

I have photographs of the Officer issuing the ticket. Attached Below

LAW CITED ON TICKET:
"V&T" "412(P3)"
(this citation is a garbled version of the City Admin Code: 34 RCNY 4-12(p3) - It is NOT from the state V&T law. Even the way the code citation was written - 412 instead of 4-12 indicates a lack of knowledge of this law and of legal citation in general. There was no lack of time or lack of support - his Sergent was advising him - as an excuse why this officer got it wrong. This cop did not have a clue)

There was a second ticket issued for "failure to obey a lawful order."

Shortly after the beginning of the ride, the police trapped us on 17th St., between 5th and 6th Avenues. I parked my bike, locking it up to construction scaffolding, in a normal fashion, on the sidewalk, since I found no bike rack on that block. Police started arresting people with bikes and sawing chains off of parked bikes. Through Gideon, Lt. Albano said if I unlocked my bike I would only get a summons and not get arrested nor have my bike taken away, so I did that. Albano stood over the shoulder of a young officer instructing her exactly how to write the summons. It was an Environmental Control Board ticket.
I had a hearing at the Environmental Control Board.
Here is what I got back in the mail:
'Deborah Berkman, Esq. appeared with respondent.
I find that the Notice of Violation fails to state the section alleged to have been violated in the space marked "Section/Rule." Notice of Violation dismissed as defective.'