Recent Streetsblog NYC posts about Civil Rights

Man “Tasered” and Arrested for Leaving Airport by Bike

By Aaron Naparstek | Jun 13, 2007 | 4 Comments

If you think handing out traffic tickets to Central Park cyclists or random seizures of locked bicycles qualifies as outrageous police behavior, check out what happened to Stephan Orsak when he tried to leave the Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport on his Brompton folding bicycle. He says that he was pulled over by a police […]

NYPD Raid Nets Bikes and Bystanders

By Jason Varone | Jun 5, 2007 | 32 Comments

This entry on the Village Voice Blog by Laura Conaway tells the story of an NYPD raid on parked bicycles last Wednesday night. When two residents questioned the officer in charge, they were arrested: Sparks from the NYPD’s circular saws arced through the night. Police, some in plainclothes, were piling cycles by the dozen in […]

Where There’s a Will, There’s a Subway

By Brad Aaron | Apr 30, 2007 | 4 Comments

The city’s Critical Mass crackdown has apparently reduced the number of participants — or maybe it was the weather. Either way, the spirit and ingenuity of the riders remains intact. According to BikeBlog, rather than succumb to the scooter cop horde like "lambs to the slaughter," cyclists gathered for Friday’s mass decamped from Union Square, […]

Friday Ride Yields Mass Police, Media Coverage

By Brad Aaron | Apr 2, 2007 | 1 Comment

Up to 200 cyclists gathered Friday evening for the first Critical Mass since the city law took effect limiting unpermitted bike rides and other public events to fewer than 50 people. With all the professional and citizen journalists on-hand to witness the "showdown" between cyclists and the NYPD, one wonders if the restriction might be […]

Bike Club Files First Lawsuit Challenging NYPD “Parade Rules”

By Jason Varone | Mar 28, 2007 | 9 Comments

Announced on the Five Borough Bicycle Club’s website: On March 27, the 5 Borough Bicycle Club and several other affected parties filed a lawsuit in Federal court, asking a judge to stop the NYPD’s new rules that would let the NYPD ticket or arrest any "recognizable group" of 50 or more cyclists that ride together […]

Feds Withhold Fatal-Accident Info from Public

By Sarah Goodyear | Mar 8, 2007 | 5 Comments

An article in the LA Times (reg required) details how the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has systematically withheld information on fatal accidents from the public, even going so far as to deny Freedom of Information Act requests from researchers. R.A. Whitworth, whose Maryland-based company conducts highway safety research for attorneys, insurance companies and even […]

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