Riding Dirt Bike Without Helmet Or Plates Leads to Instant Death Sentence from NYPD

Awful police story out of New York, reported by CBS New York on Friday:

CBS 2

The trial of a man involved in a deadly police chase in the Bronx last August will get underway Monday.

Police said Adalberto Gonzalez was driving a dirt bike the wrong way on a one-way street without plates or a helmet. Officers said that they didn't follow him, but later saw him stopped at Randall Avenue. When officers approached, Gonzalez allegedly ran off and hopped on the back of another unregistered bike.

The cruiser followed, and police said that Gonzalez jumped off the bike just before the cruiser hit them from behind.

The bike's driver — an unidentified 28-year-old man — was killed.

Surveillance video caught the scene as a police cruiser slammed into the bike during the chase in Hunts Point.

Gonzalez is charged with resisting arrest and reckless endangerment.

His lawyer is now asking why the officer driving the cruiser was cleared of any wrongdoing.

You can see the video here, which makes "involved in a deadly police chase" as per the language of that story a bad joke. The deadliness was 100 percent the cops fault, after two guys on a bike travelled yards safely down a street. Less "chase" than summary slaughter.

And it also looks to me like the cops first hit the bike on which Gonzalez was sitting, before then slamming into him and his friend from behind when he ran and jumped on his friends bike. That police action killed the friend. (The news story quoted above merely says "officers approached" Gonzalez, but again, looks to me like they drove into him before driving into him again on the second bike).

Just another stupid police brutality story, maybe. It has its larger policy implications, though.

The more harmless things that are made excuses for police to interact with you–whether drug possession or bicycle helmet (or motorcycle helmet!) or plate laws–the more horrible crap like this will happen.

Also, alas, the more citizens whose outrage should quell this sort of awful police behavior. are likely to just think, well, if you weren't breaking the law, then the cops wouldn't have had to drive full-on into two bikes within a minute.

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

His lawyer is now asking why the officer driving the cruiser was cleared of any wrongdoing.

Dumb question.

[anon]

Seriously, hire a better lawyer.

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

Dirtbikes are not bicycles, Doherty. Seriously?

[Episiarch]

Slurp that cop cock, Tulpy-Poo! It’s what you’re made for!

[Joe M]

The dirtbikes were perpendicular to traffic, obviously.

[JW]

They were on their way to their jobs on a food truck.

[Hugh Akston]

Technically correct is the best kind of correct, Epi. Never forget that.

[Joe M]

Easier to nitpick than face the essential questions this incident raises, eh?

[Loki]

Thinking about stuff causes headaches.

[Lord Humungus]

nitpicking is the refuge of the scoundrel.

[Warty]

TULPICAL

[Randian]

I do have to say that I agree with Joe M. here, Tulpa. You need to argue the essentials.

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

I’m not arguing any essential questions. The cops shouldn’t have done what they did, but claiming they rear-ended bicycles is putting sewage on a pig.

[darius404]

I’m not arguing any essential questions.

Yeah, that’s our point.

[Jesus H. Christ]

I’m with Tulpa on this one. It was a bit confusing. I was looking for bicycles int he blurry video, not motorbikes.

[Randian]

Where did anyone call them “bicycles”? I didn’t see that.

[Jesus H. Christ]

The word “bike” was used most of the time in the article, then the phrase “possession of bicycle helmet” appears. It never says the “bikes” are actually motorbikes, so for whatever reason, I thought it was referring to bicycles, and I guess Tulpa did as well. It’s not a huge deal, I get it now.

[JW]

It’s a chopper, baby.

[Randian]

Nope. Tulpa said “bicycles” was used and it was not.

[darius404]

It was when the post first went up. Right near the end. That was the only place, though.

[R C Dean]

Yeah. Originally, it was in the last sentence, as in then the cops wouldn’t have had to drive full-on into two bicycles within a minute.

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

Let’s see if the great defender of truth and justice, Randian calls out Mr Doherty for editing his words without noting that he had done so.

[darius404]

Oh. No. Changing “bicycles” to “bikes”, what an ethical nightmare.

[dalewalt]

Bike = motorcycle.

When I go for a ride on my Harley, I don’t say “I’m going out on the motorcycle”, I tell my wife “I’m going for a ride on the bike, beyatch!”

(And then she tells me whether I can or not)

[darius404]

He changed it. He called them “bicycles” at the very end.

[Brian Doherty]

yes, for the first few minutes the post was up I mistakenly used the word “bicycle” rather than the colloquial “bike” for “dirt bike.” I also added the dirt adjective to the hed after first posting to take care of any lingering confusion.

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

Bicycle is a totally different meaning from bike in this context. That change really deserves an edit note so that vaunted commenters don’t get their rep dragged through the mud.

[darius404]

No, your rep is already pretty well soiled in matters like this.

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

Doherty edited it after my comment without saying so. Originally the last sentence read “bicycles” rather than “bikes” and didn’t contain any mention of “motorcycle helmets” in the previous paragraph.

[Fluffy]

The headline says dirt bike, dude.

[Fluffy]

The headline says dirt bike, dude.

[Zeb]

Motor bikes are bicycles. Two wheels.

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

It would be cute to see how a hardened ATV enthusiast reacts when you say he rides a tricycle all the time.

[darius404]

Motorized tricycles.

[Aresen]

If one of the little people did this, it would be “vehicular homicide” at the least.

[Slammer]

I don’t know, the second hit looks like an accident. The kids on the dirt MOTORCYCLES were acting like assholes speeding all over the place, and the cops dangerously over reacted by speeding the police car around. Bad combination of behaviors.

[R C Dean]

I don’t know, the second hit looks like an accident.

Which would make it negligent vehicular homicide, except, of course for the Mythical Double Standard.

[Slammer]

Great point

[Ice Nine]

Also, it doesn’t look like an accident at all.

[JD the elder]

I’m not sure if people who are not from NYC really get this story. There are some parts of town where it’s a regular occurrence to see young guys riding non-street-legal motorcycles around pretty recklessly, and that’s what NYCers are going to think of, while people from other places may not be familiar with the phenomenon.

Frankly, I think it’s dishonest of Doherty to spin this as “guy on bike chased by police for not having a helmet” instead of “guy rides motorcycle with no plates the wrong way down one-way street”. The cops were still wrong, because if you’re following so closely behind someone you can’t stop in time, you’re doing it wrong, but expecting them not to enforce laws about license plates and one-way streets is dumb.

[anon]

The latter of your examples is not newsworthy; the fact that he was killed because a cop chased him for “illegal” behavior is.

[JD the elder]

I already said the cops were were wrong, and they definitely need to be under serious investigation, but Doherty’s description of the event does not do the truth any favors. He keeps making it sound like the cops killed a guy on a “bike” because he wasn’t wearing a helmet, when the real story, cop rams and kills traffic violator during chase, is entirely bad enough without tarting it up with a bunch of irrelevant crap.

[Spartacus]

“it’s a regular occurrence to see young guys riding non-street-legal motorcycles around pretty recklessly…”

Heavy-test fishing line and garbage cans. You’re welcome.

[Agammamon]

Yeah, I’m not so sure about the whole maining them idea, but really to me the worst thing about young guys riding non-street-legal motorcycles around pretty recklessly is more the noise than the whole riding around thing.

Though I’m really tempted to shoot the MF who rides his mufflerless bike through my neighborhood and guns the engine while doingin so.

[Spartacus]

I was just kidding. Mostly.

[darius404]

Pretty sure enforcement doesn’t warrant ramming them.

[Agammamon]

Well, I do think that enforcing plate laws are dumb – mainly because I consider plate laws to be dumb.

I certainly don’t think chasing them down, even if done “properly” and with no injuries, to give a ticket for riding a *dirtbike* the wrong way down an empty one-way street is worth the effort.

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

CTFO. An empty one-way street is only empty until someone turns onto it. I suppose the cops should assume the “bicyclists” have ESP and know when someone’s going to turn onto it.

[Sigivald]

Yeah, I noticed the author said: “The more harmless things that are made excuses for police to interact with you–whether drug possession or bicycle helmet (or motorcycle helmet!) or plate laws–the more horrible crap like this will happen.”

And I agree with that.

But leaving out “driving a motor vehicle the wrong way on a one-way street” is interesting.

Not wearing a helmet is only risking your own noggin.

Not having plates isn’t any direct harm or risk to anyone.

Going the wrong way down a street is a little more risky to others, yes, “even when the street isn’t busy”.

I want people driving the wrong way on a one-way street and running like mad when the cops show up to get “interacted with” by the police.

(This is completely orthogonal to the actions of the police, of course.)

[HellsBells]

I’m no expert, but generally the front end of a car will dip down when the brakes are applied. I didn’t see anything like that. If it was an accident, the cops were so incompetent they never hit the brakes. To me, it reads intentional hit.

[darius404]

drug possession of bicycle helmet

Bicycle helmets are rotting our kids brains!

[Heroic Mulatto]

WHAT PART OF “UNREGISTERED BICYCLE” DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND, COSMOS?!?!?!

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

Funny, Randian didn’t savage HM for referring to “bicycles” when there was no ref in the article to them.

I wonder why?

[darius404]

Maybe because you’re a retard who’s obsessed with unimportant minutiae?

[Joe M]

When living is illegal, only outlaws will live. And die.

[John]

Running from the cops is no different than taunting a dangerous animal. So yeah, it was certainly foreseeable these goons, if taunted, would wind up killing someone.

[Loki]

Or locking eyes with them.

“Puts ’em on edge. They might go into berzerker mode; come at you like a whirling dervish, all fists and elbows. You might be screaming “No, no, no” and all they hear is “Who wants cake?” Let me tell you something: They all do. They all want cake.”

[Agammamon]

And don’t forget – they’re retarded. We all know that a retarded kid has the strenght of ten regular kids, you can imagine what sort of havoc a retarded chimp cop can wreak.

[Aresen]

The difference is that, if a non-cop-type dangerous animal kills a human, it is put down rather than given counselling and leave with full pay.

[Loki]

His lawyer is now asking why the officer driving the cruiser was cleared of any wrongdoing.

Come on, we all know the answer to that question: because FUCK YOU, THAT’S WHY!!!11!!!

[John]

Officer safety.

[Spartacus]

Now they need to start dishing out the same punishment to people driving slow in the left lane, which is also AGAINST TEH LAWZ!!! in my state.

I don’t quite buy mama’s claim that her little boy is “innocent,” but he certainly didn’t do anything to merit a vehicular assault. If they worried about every kid driving an unlicensed dirt bike down the street where I live, they would not have time for anything else.

[Anonymous Coward]

people driving slow in the left lane, which is also AGAINST TEH LAWZ!!!

Cruising is different. Cruising is a crime against God, Aqua Buddha, and Man, and should be punished with summary execution.

[John]

The bike’s driver ? an unidentified 28-year-old man ? was killed

They still don’t know who the guy was?

[Jesus H. Christ]

Maybe waiting to inform relatives?

[John]

maybe so.

[Kaptious Kristen]

Since last August?

[Hugh Akston]

Well they would have done it faster if their budgets hadn’t been cut in the sequester.

[BakedPenguin]

They’re trying to find them. Whenever they can claim overtime to do so.

[Broseph of Invention]

Their log of smear info isn’t quite complete. When they find some anonymous accusations, then we’ll know who he was.

[The Late P Brooks]

Gonzalez is charged with resisting arrest and reckless endangerment.

Wait- they didn’t charge him with murder? They’re really getting into that whole “more freer” thing, these days.

[John Galt]

Unpossible.

[The Late P Brooks]

The kids on the dirt MOTORCYCLES

Obamacare FTW!

[Enough About Palin]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1cZdvJUf-k

[anon]

Obviously enforcing the helmet law was way more important than this dude putting his head in the way of a police cruiser.

Also, one wonders if the cops jumped out with weapons drawn screaming “STOP RESISTING!”

[The Late P Brooks]

This is why wearing a helmet is important.

IT COULD SAVE YOUR LIFE.

[anon]

ahahahahahahahahah, good one.

[Agammamon]

I can imagine that this story will be used in the future at motorcycle safety courses in the state.

I can see the kick-off of the next set of summer safety seminars for the military where one of the local cops comes in an talks to the young servicemembers and tells them non-ironically how this young man would be alive today (and in jail) if he had only worn a helmet.

[The Late P Brooks]

RESISTANCE IS FATAL

[Ice Nine]

Like that telephone pole.

[np]

The news story quoted above merely says “officers approached” Gonzalez, but again, looks to me like they drove into him before driving into him again on the second bike

Maybe that was the official line given before the surveillance video surfaced.

[Slammer]

New York City teenagers are assholes. Cops are worse.

[Aresen]

Only one of those two groups is subject to a summary death sentence.

[anon]

Really? My .45 says otherwise.

[JW]

This is why wearing a helmet is important.

All that the brave peace officers were trying to do, is to enforce the helmet laws.

[John]

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/b…..o-come-out

Insert Tom Brady joke here.

[Warty]

TUCK RULE.

[John]

So all weekend they kept playing that idiotic Bud Light commercial with the hot chick with the short hair on the online dating meetup with the beardo. So the commercial begins with the beardo smugly telling his date “and that is why I can’t go back to Cleveland ever again” like he is actually telling her an entertaining story. All I could think when I see that commercial is right before the commercial starts him saying

“some bad man named Warty says he will hunt me down and skin me alive if I ever foul his home town again…”

[Warty]

It’s more or less how I do things. Mine is the superior beard.

[Fluffy]

The worst part of that ad is that they expect me to believe that girl showed up for her blind date, saw beard guy, and STAYED. Not only stayed, but was RELIEVED.

[John]

At best she would have been “fuck the selection of single guys is horrible in this town”.

[Zeb]

I think that all they expect you to do is buy some bud light. Or bitch about the ad on the internet so that other people will think of Bud Light and maybe buy some. So all in all it seems to be a pretty successful ad.

[Fluffy]

I defeat them by pretending it’s a Coors Light ad.

[Broseph of Invention]

At least they got the “guys hitting on girls to their backs on stools at the bar” part right.

[The Late P Brooks]

Stories like this make me feel old. I remember a time when the overwhelming majority of Americans could be relied upon to believe

BEING AN ASSHOLE IS NOT A CAPITAL OFFENSE.

[The Late P Brooks]

Fuck it. The sun is shining, and I am going skiing.

I need to feel the wind in my hair.

[Flemur]

“You can see the video here, …”

That video doesn’t show a cop car hitting a motorcycle, and doesn’t show anyone getting knocked off a motorcycle.

[Art Stone]

That’s why it is disturbing

[AlgerHiss]

Little Ray Kelly and Little Mike Bloomberg should be quite proud.

Good God, NYC and it’s garbage citizens are such flaming pieces of shit.