Critical Mess

Police officer is loaded into ambulance after collision on tonights critical mass ride.
Photo by Fritz Askew.
OH NO, two cops got hurt on tonights ride trying to tackle cyclist engaged in the very illegal activity of riding their bikes.

mark my words the NYPD will be harping on this ride for the next five years. "Critical Mass, was fine, until those cops got hurt."

Just like all anyone can talk about happening at the WTO in Seattle was a few windows being broken.

Here is the latest from the village voice blog on last nights critical mass, January 27th.

Oh yeah, and David Lee Roth was no where to be found. I'm sure he'll be discussing the cops injuries on Monday's show.

link to article

Two Scooter Cops Hurt at Critical Mass
By Sarah Ferguson | January 27, 2006

The monthly Critical Mass Critical Mass ride in Manhattan took a turn for the worse tonight when two scooter cops slammed into each other as they were trying to head off the flow of cyclists.

Less than 10 minutes after leaving Union Square, a pack of about 100 bikers was moving south on Third Avenue when a line of 14 scooter cops patrolling alongside abruptly veered left to cut off the ride.

One scooter cop slammed into another scooter, injuring himself and throwing the second officer forward about four feet. The second officer was also hurt, having landing on his shoulder and head. A cyclist who identified himself an EMT stopped to assist the scooter cops, who were laid out on the street, before ambulances came to take them away on stretchers.
The two cops were treated for back and neck complaints at Bellevue Hospital, but a police spokesperson said the injuries were not believed to be serious.

Cops on the scene were clearly pissed. "He landed straight on his head," said one scooter cop who asked not to be identified. "It's not fun and games any more."

Four bikers were arrested at the scene and their bikes carted away in a police truck, along with three police scooters that were disabled in the collision.


"We made a move to head off the bicyclists and the group bolted through the line of scooters, causing the accident. That's the bottom line," the scooter cop explained of the collision. "The bikes were caught in the middle of it. Some got knocked over, and the rest are being chased down as we speak."

Eight more cyclists were arrested at 13th Street and Broadway, and there were reports of police dooring cyclists or arresting bikers as they attempted to leave the ride and go home.

Critical Mass riders said the police officers had behaved recklessly. Joe Pinto, a cab driver who was parked on the side of the road at the time of the incident, described the events this way:


"The cops abruptly turned to head off the bikes and one scooter tried to avoid the bikes and the back scooter hit the back tired of the front scooter and it just flipped him completely over his bike. He went down pretty hard. . . . The bikes were moving pretty aggressively when the cops moved to cut them off, and the cops weren't stopping either. It was just a cluster fuck.
"I've been caught in traffic jams and lost money because of these bike guys, and I feed my family from this, so I don't have a lot of of sympathy for them. My brother's a cop."