Last year, the City settled a class action lawsuit with 83 cyclists who were wrongly arrested by the NYPD during Critical Mass rides and this week the checks totaling $965,000 were sent out.

Bike advocacy group Time Up estimates that the final costs of the NYPD’s aggressive campaign could exceed $3 million, but that hasn’t influenced the police to change their tactics and judging by their presence at last month’s ride, they’re still running with the heavy handed approach.

Patrick Pogan wasn’t the only cop caught unlawfully assaulting a Critical Mass cyclist in Times Square. Meet Sgt. Timothy Horohoe. He was captured on video knocking a rider off his bike in 2007 and also perjured himself. The city agreed to pay out $98k to settle a lawsuit filed against the NYPD over the incident. |Gothamist|

A cyclist assaulted by a former rookie cop in Times Square last year is filing a $1.5 million lawsuit against the NYPD for attempting to cover up the unprovoked attack. 30-year-old Christopher Long was bicycling through Times Square as part of a July 2008 Critical Mass ride when then-cop Patrick Pogan, just three weeks on the job, tackled him to the pavement.

Pogan arrested Long for assault, resisting arresting and disorderly conduct, falsely testifying that Long swerved and then ran his bicycle into him, causing him to fall and “suffer lacerations” on his arms. The video below, shot by a bystander, cleared Long of charges and led to Pogan’s firing for perjuring police reports.

Long’s lawyer, Jonathan Moore, points out that “Nobody would have cried foul if it wasn’t for that video,” and says the experience put Long, who is working on a farm in Wisconsin, through “psychological trauma, which explains why he is not living in New York City right now.”

Patrick E. Pogan Jr. is a 22-year-old (born 9/9/85) NYC cop who lives at home with his parents in the infinitely boring, bike unfriendly suburban enclave of Massapequa Park. Even more depressing, his daddy is a former NYPD detective—good luck having fun in that relatively small house (street view and overhead map). This is further evidenced when you call the house (516-|||-||||) and there’s a curt voicemail recording: “We’re not here right now, do what ya gotta do.” Like most cops who live in Long Island but work in the city, Pogan most likely takes the LIRR daily, which when packed like the cattle car it is, could easily cause some intense mental discomfort. As to the effectiveness of the cowardly shove, it could be explained by the disgraced officer’s former football days. He played on his high school team and was even chosen to play as an offensive lineman on the 2003 Long Island All Star team. The Pogans also have tons of tax problems, with a federal lien in one case for the amount of $34,385.00. Plus the most damning evidence: he only had like 5 Facebook friends before deactivation. UPDATE: The phone number appears to have been changed, but all the other information is 100% correct.

Here’s footage of a uniformed cop taking out a Critical Mass cyclist who was peacefully riding through Times Square this past Friday as part of the bike advocacy group’s monthly ride. The unprovoked attack was caught on video and posted on YouTube. Thankfully, due to the video, the cowardly cop was stripped of his gun and badge. The consistently bicycle-abusing NYPD put the officer on desk duty pending an investigation. |Fox|

While attending the Critical Mass rally this past Friday, a very familiar face made his way through the fidgety crowd: Reverend Al Sharpton. He was there to discuss police brutality, continuing his campaign to publicize the Sean Bell case among throngs of disinterested cyclists who were clearly more concerned with riding their bikes than hearing speeches. But before he made his way to the podium, I was able to get Sharpton’s attention just long enough to get a comment about former White House press puppet, Scott McClellan’s new ‘Bush is a forgetful cokehead‘ book. The off camera lead question was about his first impression it, to which he quickly responded “It’s about seven years too late.” I then followed up with some awkwardly worded questions about whether McClellan is a coward, should Bush be impeached and who has the “balls “guts” to make that happen, prompting Sharpton to joke about the tongue twisted wording. At a little over 20 seconds long, it quite possibly could be one of the shortest piece of amateur citizen journalism ever documented.