On Monday of this week (March 30th) in New York, an unmarked police car pulled over a driver from a transportation network called Uber. The.The policeman was allegedly attempting to park without using his blinker at a green light. (His reverse lights weren’t on. Likely double parked without hazards on). The Uber driver pulled around and gestured that he should use his blinker and kept driving. The policeman quickly pulls up behind the vehicle and the rest is shown in this video.
This occurred just before 2pm on the West side of Manhattan, on March 30th, 2015, near Little West 12th Street. The officer did not identify himself, but he had a New York license plate: GSS 8891. The officer was later identified as Detective Patrick Cherry, at the time a member of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force.
As of April 1st, 2015, NYPD Commissioner Bratton announced his transfer off the Task Force, saying “All good cops know that the officer just made their jobs a little bit harder. … Anger like that is unacceptable in any encounter. Discourtesy like that and language like that is unacceptable. That officer’s behavior reflected poorly on everyone who wears that uniform.” The Civilian Complaint Review Board is now hearing testimony and conducting a formal investigation into the officer’s actions.
If you’ve seen this video, now with over 2 million views across the nation, you now the officer’s behavior was obscene. Not only had the officer lost his temper, but he repeatedly mocked the driver’s accent, slammed car doors, all while spewing vulgarity like a raging crow on steroids. But, more amazing than the cop’s rampage is the power of YouTube in this case. If the video hadn’t been posted for millions of people to view, the cop’s actions may have gone unchecked or lost in the bureaucracy of traditional litigation in NYC. Social networking is an exceptionally powerful tool that can even be used to protect individual rights and advocate social justice. How will you use it?