UPDATED: Police Driver Left Scene As Cyclist Writhed In Pain After Incident: Video
UPDATED, TUES. JULY 7, 12:05 p.m. — A police driver allegedly struck a cyclist late Saturday night in Chinatown and then left the scene, according to former cop Sal Greco, who posted a video of the aftermath of the incident that is disputed by police officials.
The video shows a cyclist on an electric Citi Bike writhing in apparent pain on the pavement next to an unmarked black Chevy Tahoe with flashing emergency lights on Madison Street near Market Street. A traffic enforcement agent is on the scene, but allows the driver of the vehicle with emergency lights to turn and leave.
It’s unclear what happened seconds before the video starts — or even who caused the crash — but both the witness and the person filming the scene identified the driver as a police official.
“It was that cop! Go get that cop!” a witness yelled at the traffic agent in the video, which was taken by a driver a few cars behind the police vehicle.
“I just saw it! The cop hit the man off the bike!” added the driver who recording the video.
But other commenters under the video disputed the witness accounts. And on Tuesday, the NYPD issued the following statement:
“During the course of our investigation we found additional video that captures the incident, and at this time there is no indication of any contact between the department vehicle and the bicycle or the rider. The investigation remains ongoing.”
The statement raised several questions that Streetsblog has posed to NYPD:
- You say what did not happen. But did your investigation reveal what did happen?
- Can you comment on why two people on the video are heard telling a traffic enforcement agent that “the cop” hit the cyclist? Are you disputing those witnesses?
- Was a supervisor called before the driver of the NYPD vehicle left the scene?
- The NYPD vehicle in question is used for executive protection. Who was in it at the time of this incident? Or was it returning to a location after dropping off its passenger?
(We will update this story if we hear back.)
An NYPD source said that the original video had been taken down, but it still appears on Greco’s site.
And Greco’s status as a former cop is relevant in that he claims the vehicle whose driver caused the crash is one of only a tiny number of such trucks issued to the highest-ranking NYPD officials.
“There are reportedly only two or three of these vehicles in the entire NYPD, and they are typically assigned to high-level executives or the Police Commissioner’s detail,” Greco claimed.
The vehicle involved in Saturday night’s incident definitely belongs to the NYPD. A video of the very same NYPD vehicle appeared briefly in a video showing dignitaries and police officials being ferried around during the UN General Assembly.
This story has been updated to include input from NYPD.
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