In response to a suit filed by Five Borough Bike Club in 2007 Judge Lewis Kaplan passed a ruling that upholds the NYPD’s right to require parade permits from cyclist groups of 50 or more participants. This would obviously affect critical mass rides that have soared above that number at previous gatherings. NYPD have been enforcing the rule for two years now and have cracked down more on cyclists since the Republican National convention incident of 2004 where 264 cyclist were arrested while protesting the President Bush.
Tension has always been high between NYC cyclists and NYPD.
Truth is no one is 100% innocent. Cyclists run red lights and cops have been accused of and have fabricated reason to arrest cyclist (sometimes dressed in plain clothing). In the case of Patrick Pogan that included tackling a cyclist off his bike.
Luckily, this incident happened to be caught on camera and the NYPD put Pogan on desk duty fearing scrutiny. Things like that happen all the time to cyclist during rides and this ruling is no cushion for the blow to cyclist groups all over NYC.
