- News
- Reviews
- Bikes
- Accessories
- Accessories - misc
- Computer mounts
- Bags
- Bar ends
- Bike bags & cases
- Bottle cages
- Bottles
- Cameras
- Car racks
- Child seats
- Computers
- Glasses
- GPS units
- Helmets
- Lights - front
- Lights - rear
- Lights - sets
- Locks
- Mirrors
- Mudguards
- Racks
- Pumps & CO2 inflators
- Puncture kits
- Reflectives
- Smart watches
- Stands and racks
- Trailers
- Clothing
- Components
- Bar tape & grips
- Bottom brackets
- Brake & gear cables
- Brake & STI levers
- Brake pads & spares
- Brakes
- Cassettes & freewheels
- Chains
- Chainsets & chainrings
- Derailleurs - front
- Derailleurs - rear
- Forks
- Gear levers & shifters
- Groupsets
- Handlebars & extensions
- Headsets
- Hubs
- Inner tubes
- Pedals
- Quick releases & skewers
- Saddles
- Seatposts
- Stems
- Wheels
- Tyres
- Health, fitness and nutrition
- Tools and workshop
- Miscellaneous
- Tubeless valves
- Buyers Guides
- Features
- Forum
- Recommends
- Podcast
news
Cyclist hit by police car.pngCyclist claims NYPD police car hit him, then officers lied about it
CCTV has shown that New York Police drove into a cyclist in an unmarked car, and then lied about it, according to the rider.
Security camera footage appears to show how, when an NYPD officer hit Brooklyn resident Ross Cunningham on April 5th, making a right turn without indicating in front of him, the cyclist got to his feet to come eye to eye with NYPD Sergeant Peter Villahoz.
The cyclist said he was offered an apology and an ambulance by Villahoz, although the driver was in fact Officer Kenneth Maslowski.
But Villahoz also asked the cyclist 'Why were you riding on the sidewalk?’, according to The Gothamist.
Mr Cunningham told The Gothamist: ”[It] is a completely insane thing because how would a car hit me if I was riding on the sidewalk?"
Mr Cunningham said: "I was very fortunate. I wasn't badly injured," he told Gothamist.
But his bike was damaged beyond repair and his phone screen was cracked.
When Villahoz asked, "What would you like me to do?” Cunningham replied "I'd like you to pay for it."
When a police report of the incident arrived in the post, Mr Cunningham said it was a false account of the incident , and intended to shift the blame away from the officers, saying the police car "was making a legal right turn with emergency lights when cyclist struck right side of vehicle."
But in the CCTV, no emergency lights can be seen when the cyclist is hit at 20 seeconds in:
A box on the official report is ticked to indicate that Cunningham was "not ejected" when, as the video shows, he was thrown from his bicycle.
In a letter sent to the NYPD Mr Cunningham and his lawyer said: ‘More fundamentally, we are concerned that the report was completed by Sgt. Peter Villahoz, a passenger in the vehicle that struck Mr. Cunningham, apparently without review by any other officer.
“This is so, even though another marked police vehicle arrived at the scene of the crash and was available to conduct an (at least ostensibly) neutral investigation of the crash.
“Allowing an officer to "investigate" and report upon a crash caused by a vehicle he occupied is rife with potential for mistakes or worse. That potential is plainly evident in the attached report.”
"This was police officers investigating themselves, and surprise surprise—they really did the most they could to exonerate themselves and minimize the harm that they caused," Mr Cunningham’s lawyer said.
"What I see, however, is that even when police fill out these accident reports for cyclists who've been involved in crashes with private parties, where police don't have any personal skin in the game, they make all the same sorts of mistakes in terms of blaming the cyclist."
"This is not my lottery ticket," Mr Cunningham said. "I'm not planning on suing the city. But at this point I just want them to be straightforward. All I want is to be able to go to the doctor, figure out if I'm okay, and carry on with my life."
An NYPD spokesperson said: "The collision investigation is ongoing and has not been finalized.”
Latest Comments
- Simon E 37 min 40 sec ago
Oh dear. A single bike in a single size in one shop is not indicative of the entire UK market for bicycles. And the slump isn't just bikes, it's...
- hawkinspeter 3 hours 30 min ago
Ridiculed or is it just jealousy?
- belugabob 3 hours 41 min ago
I had to double-take the headline... https://www.kentonline.co.uk/sandwich/news/takeaway-driver-19-who-left-e...
- Rendel Harris 3 hours 55 min ago
Thank goodness for that. I don't suppose anyone would want you to. You certainly behave like one though.
- Eton Rifle 4 hours 3 min ago
You do see some utterly ridiculous examples of car use....
- Eton Rifle 4 hours 25 min ago
Exactly. Every road death is a tragedy but this is at the "twat deserved it" end of the spectrum, looking at the state of that car.
- Rendel Harris 4 hours 33 min ago
I'm not the editor of this article, nor indeed of anything on this website. One would have thought that didn't require explaining.
- Eton Rifle 4 hours 33 min ago
I think the answer is in your question. I genuinely didn't know he was married to her. It does kinda explain it. Disappointing, nevertheless.
- Daclu Trelub 9 hours 19 min ago
In a perfect world, we'd have a measure of how easily distracted someone is, as part of their driving test....
Add new comment
13 comments
Police here (in NY especially) have zero interest in protecting and serving. Lying is their go-to stance at ALL times. This incident illustrates how even in relatively insignificant encounters the NYPD readily lie to divest themselves of any blame. They are the worst kind of criminal we have here in the US. It does not seem to be a job that attracts any honest, hardworking people.
If cops raced bikes, they would probably have motors in them.
Regardless of the officer lying and failing to signal a turn (hard to tell from camera), that cyclist seriously needs to learn better cycling savy: They were riding in the blind spot of a cars visibility, while riding in a gutter - AKA a bike lane, on a busy city street, while passing a slowing vehicle. That's just not smart or good awareness.
True. He chose to pull an undertake on a deccelerating vehicle approaching a junction, he should count himself lucky he isn't in the hands of the undertakers.
Oink oink
To serve & protect indeed. Applies only to themselves it would appear.
At least they didn't open fire on him which is a plus.
He can't have been black...
The pedant in me forces me to point out that many more non-black Americans are shot each year than black Americans.
Try 10 seconds of googling instead of typing, maybe? The Washington Post reports that unarmed black men were seven times more likely to be killed by police this year than unarmed white men.
Try reading your own article, maybe?
"In any case, the numbers are misleading. “Based on that data, Mr. Moskos reported that roughly 49 percent of those killed by officers from May 2013 to April 2015 were white, while 30 percent were black,” the Washington Times article said. “He also found that 19 percent were Hispanic.”
darrenleroy's point stands. Your article points to something else - the relative chance of a black person being killed being higher as they make up a smaller % of the population:
"...but whites make up 63 percent of the population of this country. Blacks are just 12 percent."
You might argue that the rate of shootings is still therefore indicitive of racism, but you might first want to look at the crime stats by race in the USA first:
(p.11 http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/htus8008.pdf)
Isn't blatant lying completely incompatible to being a police officer?
That would be nice, but unfortunately police are people and people generally lie a lot. This is why we should have procedures in place to reduce the reliance on someone's word and instead use independant investigators and examine the evidence.
Why don't they just hold up their hands, admit they made a mistake and pay for his bike and phone? Everyone makes mistakes from time to time and we don't expect police to be "perfect". However, we do expect police to be honest.
Now that they've lied, they can't just hold their hand up because that would be an admission that they lied. So instead they need to drag this out as long as possible and try bury it in the court system. Already there are too many questions this raises. Bad driving, lying in a statement, victim blaming, a cover up from the second group of policemen on the scene - rather than the bad driving of one person the whole system is under scrutiny. It's too late to admit they were wrong, even if it's the right thing to do