How many arrests were there? Were the police agressive? What was it like?

no arrests, just tickets. the ruling did some good, i guess.

apparently, the tickets were for "disobeying a red light." which is funny, because the cops chased us into red lights, then stopped and ticketed people

is it legally entrapment? hard to say, because the po's weren't going especially fast (from what I say on 6th anyway). but of course, critical massers are naturally wary of the cops, and dont want to get stuck at a light with cops right behind them. pigs are smarter than dogs.

any bikes get taken?

also, i heard through the livejournal grapevine that the cops intentionally misspelled names on at least one of the tickets. anyone have this happen?

also, my friend Becca (Freewheeels) said that there were two arrests, but they were released promptly, like by 10ish.

The entrapment defense usually can only be used if an agent or officer induces a person to commit a crime he or she would otherwise not commit. This would be a duress or necessity defense, depending on whether the police were acting legally or not. They're still being jerks though.

No arrests? Funny. I saw someone with a chrome pista get put into the back of a police van on broadway. The cop took the bike and was holding it. Don't know what they did with it.
I did see a lot of people getting tickets.

i dunno. i thought it was a lot of fun.

i was at the front of the ride for a while and it was great until we turned onto 6th ave. police vans started making appearances and a few of us picked up the pace. eventually, i turned around and couldn't see anyone behind me--just police flashers about a half mile back in the distance. i heard sirens in midtown and chased 'em down. it was a group of 12 squad cars basically zipping around in circles. i raced 'em. they sort of seemed to get a kick out of it. they certainly didn't seem upset or in any hurry to door or grab me.

my girlfriend called and said that a few people were at 59th st. i went to meet her and saw a few other riders heading that way. she was cold and we were close to home, so we headed into the park and rode home.

while chasing the cops around, i saw what looked to be about 6-8 riders detained at 30th and 6th. my initial thought was that they were being arrested, but i guess they were just being ticketed???

for the most part, the ride almost felt like a pre-9/11 CM ride. there was tension, but i think it was more the sort of tension one feels when doing something that you know is gonna be fun, but likely has risks that are unfathomable until you just dive in.

anybody who wussed out deserves a wedgie AND a swirlie.

can anyone who was ticketed explain how you were caught? i was trying to test the waters by riding right next to cops and slowing down when i saw clusters of cops on foot and none of them seemed to care in the least. it was sort of like they showed up cos they were told to, but they didn't show up to work--if that makes any sense.

messengers often seem able to escape the cops. food delivery guys are dfntly getting more tickets though.

i wouldn't peg it on CM though. i think it has to do with an overall interest in upping ticket-generated revenue.