Updated 04/27/2010 09:42 PM
Deliberations Begin In Case Against Officer Who Shoved Cyclist
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Jury deliberations began Tuesday in the trial of a former police officer caught on video knocking a cyclist to the ground during a group bike ride.
Patrick Pogan faces charges of assault and falsifying an arrest record stemming from a July 2008 incident which was caught on video and later posted on YouTube.
The video shows Pogan -- a rookie officer at the time -- body checking biker Christopher Long during a Critical Mass protest ride in Times Square.
Each side claims the other instigated the incident.
Jurors, who were given the case around 11 a.m., sent out their first note about two hours later asking to see the police report, the criminal court complaint as well as all of the photos and videos that were submitted as evidence.
Pogan's attorney says he's impressed with how thorough the jury is being.
"This is the sort of case where you could have a knee-jerk reaction. And they have obviously avoided that. They're reviewing the evidence, they're reviewing the tapes, they're reviewing the paperwork. And that's all we can hope for is that they give it a careful, serious analysis which it seems they're doing that," said defense attorney Stuart London.
Jurors also sent out a second note around 3 p.m. requesting that the judge give them the legal definition of count number six, which deals with whether Pogan knew there was false information in the criminal court complaint when he signed it.
"What's important about that count is truthfulness of my client at the time the report was filled out -- not is the report accurate, but was it accurate in my client's mind at the time," London said. "And that's what we stressed throughout the trial. So we have to hope that they bear that in mind."
During closing arguments Monday, the assistant district attorney told the jury that Pogan "overreacted to what Christopher Long was doing and responded with a violent shove, knocking him off his bicycle. Some mistakes are crimes."
Pogan faces up to four years in prison if convicted.
Deliberations are scheduled to resume Wednesday at 10 a.m.