As if it wasn’t already dangerous enough out there!
WTF!?!
Yeah. Internal investigation is happening, but there won’t even be a slap on the wrist IMHO.
NSW is rapidly becoming a very fucked place.
That’s pretty serious, looks like police brutality to me. Will follow with interest.
So many witnesses, all saying the cop basically rode up beside him and pushed him over. There’s apparently a traffic cam on that intersection, will be interesting if they can get the footage.
Not holding my breath for any consequences against the cop.
Wasn’t an NYPD officer filmed doing this a few years back during a CM ride?
Yeah that was like a full on ‘clothesline’ right?
Yeah like wise but here is hoping that the number of witnesses force their hand. I noticed in the Bicycle Network article a witness heard the cop say “I barely touched him” yet in the SMH the Poilce are saying that he fell without contact…
Devil’s advocate here:
If the guy was riding away from a cop who had probable cause to stop him, how is this different to tackling a runner to the ground?
if he was pulling him over for not wearing a helmet, pushing him is not the best idea surely?
if he was on a motorbike, he could’ve very easily accelerated past him & attempted to block his path. running after someone is a bit different I reckon…
Witnesses state that the cop had lights going but no siren, and approached from behind without other warning. Since the bike lane was removed on that road, it would’ve been very easy for the cop to accelerate past and slow down or box the guy into the gutter. Bike guy would’ve had nowhere to go.
Has all the hallmarks of a none-too-smart, gung-ho motorbike cop who can’t think quickly under stress situations.
I agree that doing something unsafe in trying to stop someone doing something else unsafe isn’t the best idea, but if he was running red lights and evading the motorbike for some time, then the cop has to try something else.
Not according to the article
The police motorcyclist “activated his warning lights and sirens”, police said, and attempted to stop the cyclist, who continued riding west along William Street.“The cyclist continued along William Street and the officer made further attempts to stop the rider near the intersection of College Street,” the statement said.
^This
Eternal optimist here:
I can’t see how the cop cannot get more than a slap on the wrist on that one. Some suspension+retraining might do some good.
Also there is a bit of a contradiction between the article and witnesses’ declarations - seems that there were no sirens activated.
Mmm, witnesses reported no siren. Lots of he-said stuff going on.
So there might have been siren initially, then some riding, then the incident without sirens.
tbh, I’m gonna take the eyewitness account of no siren over the official police statement. Police statement said no contact, eyewitness says cop says “I barely touched him”, which more than implies contact.
Cops are gonna do everything in their power to cover their arse here.
Possibly? But not according to eyewitnesses.
Of course the Police will cover their arses but its pretty hard to not miss a siren coming from those bikes right?
“The motorcyclist came up alongside him. There wasn’t a siren that I heard, and it’s not like he rode alongside him and asked him to pull over. It was literally like he came up from behind, then alongside and just pushed him over.”
Its not like NSW Motorbike Cops are known to ride dangerously or anything…
I’m sure it will all be solved in True Detective Season 3
^that shit pisses me off too though. how about instead of yelling at the cop (and vice versa), you keep your shit together and actually talk about it, rather than sounding like a whiny child before riding off saying “this is going on youtube!!”
then if the cop is unreasonable and thinks he’s still in the right, you actually have evidence that they’re in the wrong, instead of a video proving fuck all…
This is what Fly6 is for