Flutterby™! : To Protect and Serve

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To Protect and Serve

2013-10-08 23:31:02.718147+00 by Dan Lyke 3 comments

So there's this incident in New York City where... the initial reports I've read vary, apparently a whole bunch of motorcyclists were riding around a family in an SUV, one of the riders was struck by the SUV at which point the motorcyclists blocked the roadway. The driver of the SUV spooked and attempted to escape, was chased, the motorcyclists attacked the SUV, pulled the driver clear and beat him. NY Times: After Motorcyclist Is Struck, Driver Is Pulled From S.U.V. and Beaten, the Police Say.

And now the story starts to come out: One of the attackers of the SUV, who is seen on video shattering the back window, was an undercover police officer. Less damning version of the story at the NY Post, although that story was apparently written before all the video became public. And, that latter source being the NY Post (For you non-New Yorkers, the first link I saw was the Daily Mail version of the story, which I definitely wouldn't link to, and I kinda put the Post in the same category...), they also managed to get the most inflammatory quotes possible...

[ related topics: Quotes Humor Invention and Design Sociology Current Events Law Enforcement New York Video Bicycling Woodworking ]

comments in ascending chronological order (reverse):

#Comment Re: made: 2013-10-09 13:15:15.080755+00 by: meuon

This whole event is a "cluster" of mistakes starting with the bikers playing games on the streets. A panicked driver who could have chilled and watched some motorcyclists do some tricks and "own" the road for a few minutes. The bikers chasing and attacking the SUV driver. And for sprinkles, undercover cops crossing the line. So many opportunities for this to be defused by sane people.

If it were me in my truck/RV/mini: I'd be chilling for a few minutes, with a hand on a .45 and hoping no-one got hurt doing stunts...

#Comment Re: made: 2013-10-10 18:21:41.655241+00 by: Dan Lyke

And an Internal Affairs Bureau officer has come forward, after 2 weeks, to admit that he was riding with the motorcycle group as well.

Charges the IAB officer could face include obstructing governmental administration and official misconduct, sources said.

DNAInfo has previously reported that as many as six NYPD officers were riding with the horde of motorcyclists up the West Side Highway.

Yeah, I don't know how what all went down. I know that when I was a kid, on at least one late night trek on to Long Island to visit grandparents, our car was part of the highway being stopped by a large to let a drag race occur, as my dad tells it apparently they were gating traffic through this stretch. On the other hand, at least one of these officers under investigation was recently arrested for fighting with officers responding to a domestic dispute that he was a part of, so this very well could have been a fairly aggressive group.

#Comment Re: made: 2013-10-11 00:21:03.736459+00 by: meuon

Memories: We'd block off the "river road" along the Mississippi River out of Alton Il. for a few minutes to drag race... Everyone knew where we were and what we were doing, including the cops. The big input was: No uncorked headers and don't let the traffic back up, which was not a problem at 1am. We were gear heads, with some beer and weed afterwards, not during. The deal with the cops was, if we were not being assholes in town (no stop light racing...) this was tolerated.