Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

August 1,2008

Every summer, political activists in New York stage a mass bicycle ride called Critical Mass. During last Friday?s Critical Mass event, a rider named Christopher Long was arrested by Police Officer Patrick Pogan and charged with assault.

Officer Pogan?s official report depicts the Officer as the innocent victim of a gratuitous attack by Long, who supposedly impeded traffic before using his bike to run down the officer.

A video of the incident recorded by a tourist and then broadcast to the world on the internet demonstrated that Officer Pogan had lied about every element of that incident.

Long did everything he could to avoid Officer Pogan, who shoved him from his bike and sent him flying head over heels in a completely unprovoked assault.

The charges against Long were dropped, Pogan has been reassigned, and the rest of us have another object lesson about the critical need to record every encounter with the police.

Let us take back the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.