Charges Against Shoved Cyclist Are Dropped

Sep 5th, 2008

Christopher Long, 29, a bicyclist who was shoved by a police officer in an altercation captured on video, left Manhattan Criminal Court after prosecutors dropped all charges against him. (Photo: John Marshall Mantel for The New York Times)

Prosecutors dropped charges on Friday morning, as expected, against the bicyclist who was shoved off his bike in July by a police officer in Times Square. The confrontation between the cyclist, Christopher Long, and a New York City police officer, Patrick Pogan, was captured on amateur video and circulated widely over the Internet.

Mr. Long, 29, had been charged with assault, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct on July 25 after Officer Pogan wrote in his report that Mr. Long had been weaving in and out of traffic and that he had tried to hit the officer with his bicycle.

But video recorded by an onlooker soon surfaced on YouTube, showing Officer Pogan lowering his shoulder and shoving Mr. Long off his bike on Seventh Avenue at 46th Street as Mr. Long tried to steer out of the way. (Officer Pogan was stripped of his badge and gun and placed on desk duty pending the completion of an investigation into his conduct.)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUkiyBVytRQ]