In a sane world, there would be charges, license suspension, and job loss. Watch this case to see what kind of world New Yorkers really live in.

While this is horrifying, it is as far from shocking. I have been involved in many near misses with NYPD cruisers and ambulances running with out light or sirens. There is a culture of entitlement that pervades the NYPD that has convinced cops that they aren’t there to enforce the law, rather that they are the law. Hence, traffic laws are only for the civilians.

I live close by so I headed over.

Here are some pictures:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/10798592@N08/sets/72157620792319268/

A guy who lives right at the scene had some disturbing things to say. To try to repeat what he said as accurately as I can remember, he said “80 cops” were swarming around the cops in the crashed cruiser, but not around the several people who were hit, including, he said, a baby in a stroller. When bystanders started telling the cops to attend to the other injured people, the cops started yelling “Shut up! Shut the f— up!” at them. He said “I can understand that, I’d be like that too if it was a coworker of mine; I’d be emotional too. But after a while the ‘protect and serve’ instinct is supposed to kick in.”

He also said that the street is like a racetrack for civilians and cops alike, and that cops regularly hit people and dogs there.

I did’t ask him to estimate how often that happens, but I asked him to clarify–“cops often hit people and dogs here?” and he said they do.

NY1 and Telemundo had vans there.

Remember, this is Avenue D. Police behave differently here, and show very little respect for the res. (Well, maybe not, on second thought, if one considers the police officer who pushed a cyclist off a bike in Times Sq.)

This is a disgusting example of police behavior. Although I’m not a fan of Giuliani-era quality of life policing strategy, aka “broken windows”, I think it could apply here.
If you send the message to cops that it’s ok to park their cars in illegal spots or on the sidewalk, they internalize an “above the law” attitude and eventually end up pulling stunts like the one today, injuring people and causing property damage, and sometimes killing people.
And the response of the officers on the scene is equally revolting. Take care of their own (who were the cause of the problem) and ignore everyone else.

Today I saw something messed up on 20th street near 13 precinct. Biker gets rear ended by a police cruiser 5417 11 @ approximately 5:23pm. Cop jumps out and screams I said pull over. They grab a small man in his 20s with brown hair and shove him in the cruiser. In the 10 seconds prior I heard no sirens or amplified voice saying pull over.

Not sure I want to file a report to NYC civilian complaint review board. I’d rather stay anonymous. Do I really want to get retaliation?