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By Mail Foreign Service
Caught on camera: Still video images, moving clockwise from top left, show how officer Patrick Pogan knocked over Christopher Long, despite opposite claimsA former police officer faces jail after an internet video exposed his bid to prosecute a cyling protester for allegedly running into him was a lie.
Patrick Pogan claimed activist Christopher Long steering into him and knocked him down during a demonstration in New York.
But a YouTube video seen by two million people so far has exposed him as a liar.
The video shows Pogan walking over to the cyclist and shoving him to the ground instead.
Mr Long was acquitted of assault charges and received a £40,000 payout from the city’s police.
Now Pogan, who was a recent recruit at the time of the protest two years ago, has been forced to quit his job in disgrace and has been convicted of lying.
The 24-year-old faces four years in jail when he is sentenced later today, although it is likely that he will be handed probation instead.
The case has highlighted the growing role of witness videos in law enforcement, and it spotlighted a history of conflict between the New York Police Department and a group of pro-cycling demonstrators.
Back in July 2008, Pogan had been assigned to keep order and watch out for traffic violations as a bike protest called Critical Mass passed through Times Square.
Participants and police already had had a rocky relationship after more than 260 cyclists were arrested during similar event before the Republican National Convention in 2004.
Pogan said he told Mr Long to stop to get ticketed for such infractions as taking his hands off his handlebars.
But the cyclist kept going, and he testified he never heard any instruction to stop.
Pogan initially reported that Mr Long steered into him and knocked him down.
But a tourist's video showed the officer striding over to the cyclist and shoving him off his bike.
The video has now been watched by more than 2million YouTube viewers.
Pogan testified that he was trying to protect himself and never meant to misrepresent what happened.
Mr Long, who wasn't seriously hurt, was charged with attempted assault and other offenses.
The charges later were dropped, and the city paid the real victim $65,000 to settle a lawsuit he filed.
Pogan resigned last year from the police force.
Defence lawyer Stuart London declined to say whether Pogan, whose father is a retired NYPD detective, planned to speak at his sentencing.
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