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Monday, July 28, 2008

Re: Violence During Critical Mass in NYC

posted by on July 28 at 15:09 PM

Critical Mass riders in Seattle also had an ugly encounter with some King County detectives in 2006:

County law enforcement cracked some heads this past weekend—or at least a bike helmet. King County detectives took two bruised Seattle bicycle riders into custody Friday, June 30, after a confusing tussle between Critical Mass bicyclists who blocked a Belltown intersection and two undercover King County cops who were startled when one of the bikers ran a red light and commanded them to stop their car.

Full story here.

RSS icon Comments

1

Always remember to prominently display your batch.

Posted by pragmatic | July 28, 2008 3:14 PM
2

Critical Mass - Pittsburgh also had a run-in with police in the last year or so. PBS story below:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=cW6qWqU84h8

Posted by MK | July 28, 2008 3:15 PM
3

"don't clear it!" ha!

well, when you practice civil disobedience, you shouldn't be too surprised about getting arrested. that said, uh, yeah, "batches" should be displaying, and officers identified. and throwing punches? not necessary.

the fact that no one remained in the van's way after the arrest leads me to believe no one would have staying in the way to begin with if the officers identified themselves, or flipped on the siren...

Posted by infrequent | July 28, 2008 3:20 PM
4

We don't need no steenkin' badges!

Posted by King County Gestapo | July 28, 2008 3:27 PM
5

@ 3

Civil disobedience is often defined as passive resistance to laws or commands from a government or occupying force that the resister feels is immoral.

What laws are CM protesting against? The only law I really see them break is the running of red traffic lights. Are they protesting against traffic laws regarding red lights? Is the government oppressing cyclists with traffic lights? I'm confused.

Posted by m | July 28, 2008 3:38 PM
6

Douchebags all.

Notice the intensity of the dude-factor. Big shirtless men blocking the street and shouting and stinking up the neighborhood with sweat and testosterone. Love the "I'm ex-military" at the end.

Posted by Fnarf | July 28, 2008 3:43 PM
7

"I'm ex-military..." and currently a dumb shit.

I was blissfully unaware of these bike-riding clowns until this contretemps. Nothing more than a bunch of joyriding hooligans whose loosely constructed "social argument" is a clear second to their macho King-for-a-day posturing.

Posted by Jubilation T. Cornball | July 28, 2008 3:44 PM
8

"okay---here's what happened..."

Posted by chops | July 28, 2008 3:48 PM
9

@7 Jubilation nailed it.

And THAT is exactly how most of the general public feels about the morons who participate in that event.

Time to shut it down.

Posted by Critical Stupidity | July 28, 2008 4:01 PM
10

Here's hoping the SPD sends lots of undercover cars to CM rides, so that a few of these douchebags get arrested every time they try to "cork" an intersection.

Posted by David Wright | July 28, 2008 4:04 PM
11

I didn't even know about CM until this incident. I started going the very next ride (huge turnout, Seward Park!) and I've done it in three countries and two continents since.

Posted by Westlake, son! | July 28, 2008 4:30 PM
12

@10 - I agree, arresting undercover cops is fun, especially when they shoot them.

Posted by Will in Seattle | July 28, 2008 4:33 PM
13

Being arrested is sort of the point of civil disobedience isn't it? Part of the reason for groups like Critical Mass is to create changes through the law (the public on both sides has already made up their minds).

Posted by elswinger | July 28, 2008 4:45 PM
14

Another Critical Mass SUCCESS STORY!

Posted by Explorer | July 28, 2008 4:48 PM
15

“Send in the Cops!” This mentality reminds me of the idiocy that took us to war with Iraq. Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11, so let’s invade and destroy it. A Gay dude rammed critical mass, so let’s punish and fuck with Critical Mass. It’s the same mentality that inspired that out of work truck driver to enter the Unitarian church yesterday with a shotgun and shoot liberals because he was out of work due to the idiot policies of Washington, both Dem and Repug, who are conservative shit heads. Funny how Fat Fuck Fnarf’s voice rings the loudest in this let’s get Critical Mass bullshit. Of course this makes sense considering he does not consider Bush a war Criminal.

Posted by FuckFatFuck | July 28, 2008 5:11 PM
16

@15 As a moron, and an obnoxious one at that, you should recuse yourself from all threads which call for serious discussion.

Posted by Greg | July 28, 2008 5:38 PM
17
one of the bikers ran a red light and commanded them to stop their car
Sounds like an attempted carjacking to me, the fuckers are damn lucky the people in the car were cops, I would have run them over, and since it is not unusual for carjackers to have guns, I would have backed over them a couple of times to make sure they were unable to continue their attack..
Posted by hyperbole | July 28, 2008 5:38 PM
18

douche.

bags.

Posted by wisepunk | July 28, 2008 5:43 PM
19

#17 - agreed. These are the same fucktards who could give a shit if they run down a pedestrian. Time to return the favor.

Posted by uncle baggy | July 28, 2008 7:47 PM
20

CM makes me want to get an aftermarket bull bar for my truck just in case I'd ever get so lucky as to have the chance to knock one of these punks into a bus bench.

Posted by Bob | July 28, 2008 8:10 PM
21

But... They're bicyclists! They must be noble and generally superior. Plus, they are engaging in civil disobedience to protest... er, something, and they're in the right and car drivers are evil because, um, they're not bicycling, and...

Nevermind. I tried. They're just assholes. No other explanation makes any sense.

Posted by Also | July 28, 2008 11:00 PM
22

"Charged our other brother"

NICE mullet

Posted by Paul in Ballrd | July 29, 2008 7:25 AM

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