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Masi has some fresh new models becoming available for 2009. Commute by Bike has more pictures and details.
Jul 29, 2008 11:06 AM
COLLEEN LONG
The Associated Press
NEW YORK – A police officer shown on video body-checking a bicyclist who was riding as part of a demonstration was stripped of his badge and gun Monday.
The incident occurred Friday evening in Times Square at the Critical Mass ride, a monthly protest of urban reliance on motor vehicles.
The video clip, posted anonymously on the Internet on Sunday, shows the officer standing in the street as bikes whiz past. The officer moves toward the cyclist, identified in a criminal complaint as Christopher Long, and violently knocks him to the ground in front of crowds of people. Another officer comes over, and the two officers wrestle with Long before handcuffing him.
Craig Radhuber said he was riding about 3 feet behind Long when he was hit.
"It was unprovoked," Radhuber said. "It was like the cop was waiting for him and then just checked him as he got closer. I couldn't believe it.''
The officer in the video was placed on desk duty pending the outcome of a police department investigation, chief police spokesman Paul Browne said.
The video, shot by a bystander, was posted on YouTube.
Long, of Hoboken, N.J., was arrested because he was obstructing traffic in the heart of Times Square, the complaint said. He was charged with attempted assault, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct.
The complaint said Long, 29, deliberately steered his bicycle into the officer, causing both of them to fall to the ground.
During his arrest, Long squirmed and kicked, saying to the officers, "You are pawns in the game. I'm gonna have your job,'' the complaint said.
There were no other arrests in the ride.
Long's lawyer said he hopes the Manhattan district attorney's office will drop the charges. The district attorney's office said it was investigating.
Meanwhile, Long's next court date was set for Sept. 5.
The Critical Mass bike rides started in San Francisco in 1992 and began in New York two years later. The New York rides, on the last Friday of every month, became large enough that police decided to crack down on them, leading to the arrests of more than 260 cyclists during a ride days before the GOP convention in August 2004 on charges of disorderly conduct and traffic offenses.
Dozens more cyclists have been arrested at subsequent rallies. In 2007, a federal judge ruled that the city could continue to regulate the rides despite a claim from riders arguing the rules infringe on their constitutional rights to free speech and to travel.
Associated Press writer Tom Hays contributed to this report.
Austin man sick of high gas prices, rides bicycle to work
10:40 PM CDT on Tuesday, June 17, 2008
By SHELTON GREEN
KVUE News
Had enough of the ever-climbing gas prices? Well one Austin man is now taking matters into his own hands.
Last week, Nelson Chafetz, an IBM employee put away his car keys and picked up his bicycle which he now rides 14-miles to work, and 14-miles home.
Chafetz says he's killing two birds with one stone by taking care of his health and his wallet.
"I can afford the 4-dollars per gallon, but if 2 or 3 million people across the country did this once or twice a week, I think demand would go down, supply would go up and that would effect the gas prices" says Chafetz.
The support planner for IBM packs his bike with water, his laptop, and a change of clothing because he showers once he gets to work.
Chafetz takes the back roads to and from Cedar Park on his commute.
He says he plans to keep riding as long as gas prices stay on their present course and he's hoping his example will encourage others to follow his lead.
"Take action. Do something, instead of riding a stationary bike at the gym or a treadmill at the gym get out and walk to work if it's close enough or get on a bicycle and start riding to work.
"I feel good about what I'm doing, I feel like I'm making a difference" he says.