He lied to prosecutors, but he didn’t assault the cyclist.
After three days of deliberations, a Manhattan jury delivered a mixed verdict in the notorious case of bike-pushing cop Patrick Pogan, accused of first shoving, then framing a cyclist during a 2008 Critical Mass rally in Times Square.
The shove, they forgave. The framing was another story.
Pogan now faces anywhere from zero to four years in jail for filing a false criminal complaint, in which he accused Christopher Long of coming at him on his bike and knocking him down — an assault on a police officer that videotape later showed never happened.
But Pogan — who had testified he was just following his captain’s orders to “do what you have to do” to stop law-breaking bikers — was cleared of all charges relating to the bike-push itself, which had sent Long crashing to the pavement.
The verdict left cops and cyclists alike unsatisfied — and scratching their heads.
“It’s surprising the jury didn’t convict him,” said Bill DiPaola, director of Times Up! the pro-cycling group that promotes the monthly Critical Mass rides.
But Patrick Lynch, president of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, complained, “This will have a chilling effect on every new, young officer when they realize that mistakes now become crimes.”
At the center of the case was the shove seen round the world — garnering 5 million YouTube hits after another cyclist’s video recording of the confrontation was posted.
The video clearly showed Pogan striding over to Long and pushing him down with his arm and shoulder.
The pair’s collision at Seventh Avenue and 47th Street — including Long’s arrest — took less than five minutes.
Their collision in court spanned a two-week trial, during which both men took turns on the stand.
Few two people could have been more different.
Pogan, now 24, was just 11 days out of the academy, all 260 pounds of him, at the time of the shove. He told jurors he was a former altar boy, a bone-marrow donor, an ex-EMT.
“Yes, sir. No sir,” he politely answered prosecutor Ryan Connors during cross-examination.
Long, 31, who weighed a wiry 150 pounds, meanwhile described himself to jurors as an itinerant gardener and “couch surfer” who lived communally with 35 people in Bushwick, Brooklyn.
He was kicked out of the Army for smoking pot in 2001, he admitted, and continues to smoke pot daily.
“I like to smoke while I defecate in the morning,” Long shared with jurors.
Defense lawyer Stuart London played up the two men’s differences to jurors — calling his client a “wide-eyed young officer” and the victim a “professional anarchist.”
Even the prosecutor advised jurors that, in convicting Pogan, they didn’t have to cuddle up to his victim.
“You may not like him,” Ryan said. “But that’s not what this case is about.”
Pogan will be sentenced on June 23.
“We’re cautiously optimistic he won’t get jail,” said London. “This is not someone who even needs probation. This is somebody who needs to get on with his life.”
Additional reporting by Yoni Bashan