Police Misconduct

Court documents indicate police were driving in pursuit of a man when he struck and killed a Greenpoint pedestrian five years ago, contrary to NYPD denials and confirming statements from witnesses who told Streetsblog the crash occurred during a high-speed chase.

While cyclists in Midtown, the West Village and other areas have reported incidents of NYPD entrapment and wrongful ticketing this summer, a resident of Upper Manhattan says she was almost struck by officers in a marked cruiser, who then yelled obscenities at her.

The Riverdale Press revealed last week what should have been a bombshell allegation of the sort that is splashed on front pages across the city. But it wasn't picked up by other media outlets, nor was it the focus of the Riverdale Press story.

Despite the national outrage over the Raquel Nelson case, officials in metro Atlanta continue to treat pedestrians like criminals.

Here's an argument for using cameras to enforce traffic laws: getting cops like this off of the traffic beat.

We at Streetsblog aren't big fans of sidewalk bike riding. As we've said before, if the police truly must take time away from targeting the most dangerous traffic crimes, like motorist speeding and failure-to-yield, sidewalk riding is the kind of infraction for them to worry about. Pedestrian space is scarce enough in New York City.

What is it about riding a bike that makes someone such a tempting target for police harassment?

While it's shocking to think that, in this day and age, a New York City police officer would stop and harass a female cyclist for biking in a short skirt, as Jasmijn Rijcken said happened to her last month, it also seems to fit the zeitgeist, coming amidst the well-publicized NYPD bike crackdown and following the sordid trial of two cops on rape charges (and their stunning acquittal). But when Streetsblog and Gothamist readers discovered that Rijcken touts her expertise in "guerrilla marketing" on her LinkedIn profile (sample prose: "We provide marketing in disguise and make YOU the talk of the town"), rumors started fluttering on Twitter that the story might have been too perfectly placed. Was it all a ploy to drum up publicity for the bikes that she was in town to promote?

When Jasmijn Rijcken, the general manager of the VANMOOF bicycle company, traveled from Amsterdam to New York in late April, she was excited to see what she'd heard described as a city that had embraced bicycling. It wasn't NYC's new protected bike lanes that defined her ride through the city, however, but the New York Police Department, currently in the midst of a major crackdown against cyclists.