EXCERPTS FROM DEPOSITIONS OF NYPD PERSONNEL REGARDING “HIJACKING.” OF CRITICAL MASS.
These selections show contradictions between the testimonies of Commissioner Kelly, Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne, Cheif Scagnelli and the testimony of Officer Wagner who was assigned to Critical Mass detail for years.
COMMISSIONER KELLY, pages 95-96
Q. Can you cite any specific piece of evidence, conversation you had with a specific person or anything else concrete that underlies your belief that the conduct of ride participants suddenly and materially changed in mid 2004?
A. Information from staff members.
Q. But you can’t cite a specific staff member?
A. No.
Q. Does it surprise you that in deposing ten or more NYPD individuals who have been involved in the Critical Mass rides over the years that we have been unable to learn the name of a single individual who can give specific testimony regarding these arrangements that you believe existed prior to mid 2004?
A. No.
DEPUTY COMMISSIONER BROWNE, page 134
Q. Sure. Did Chief Scagnelli ever indicate to you that individuals had taken over the ride who had not previously been involved?
A. I don’t know if he said that specifically.
Q. Did he state it in a more general fashion?
A. He had told me that the ride had been once done in cooperation with police. was — it was smaller numbers and that that had changed at a — on or about the time of the FDR Drive event.
CHIEF SCAGNELLI, pages 109-110
Q. Did you hear at some point that the nature of Critical Mass ride changed during 2004?
A. Yes.
Q. And what did you hear?
A. I heard that the numbers grew significantly and that there were, for lack of a better term, disruptive types of people that were now joining in on the rides.
Q. And who told you that?
A. I don’t remember.
OFFICER WAGNER, pages 178 – 179
Q. Did you actually observe the participants in the August 2004 Critical Mass ride behaving in a manner materially different from the behavior observed in prior Critical Mass rides that you had monitored?
A. No.
Q. Can you describe any activity by the participants in the August 2004 Critical Mass ride that you had never seen before on a previous Critical Mass ride that you had monitored?
A. No. There was no unusual behavior compared to prior rides.
Q. After the August 2004 Critical Mass ride were you asked by anyone to provide information regarding the conduct of participants in that ride?
A. Not to my knowledge.
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