Locked and loaded… with lies?
The morning after the brief student occupation of a building at Columbia University was resumed, NYPD officials on Wednesday displayed a bicycle lock chain — complete with a Kryptonite-branded U-lock — that they said the pro-Palestinian demonstrators in the school used barricade doors. at the school hall.
Appearing on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” program Wednesday, Deputy Commissioner Tarik Sheppard brandished the bicycle lock to imply that the protesters were “professionals,” since no student could possibly possess such a device.
“This is not what students bring to school it’s what professionals bring to campuses and universities,” Sheppard said. “These are heavy industrial chains that have been locked with bicycle locks.”
Watch the clip below:
As Twitter commenters and members of the media immediately noticed, Columbia University indeed recommends the specific bicycle lock and chain in question to the students – among other, less heavy, options. Bicycle lock maker Kryptonite also sells the product as its “New York Fahgettaboudit Chain,” as city reporter Katie Honan tried to point out to Sheppard after Mayor Adams’ press conference on Wednesday morning
“This is the same chain,” Honan told Sheppard, according to the video posted by Hell Gate’s Christopher Robbins. “This is an industrial chain,” insisted Sheppard.
New York’s Fahgettaboudit Chain is one of the only Kryptonite products that comes with an “anti-theft” guarantee if a bike is stolen in Manhattan, 404 Media have reported – which means New Yorkers who lose them can register to get a refund of the cost of their bike if someone steals it while it’s equipped with the lock.
While the MSNBC hosts seemed to eat up Sheppard’s specious assertion, New York City cyclists fumed over the NYPD’s flimsy attempt to paint the student protesters as outside agitators (at 4:55 p.m. on Wednesday, the NYPD had also identified any non-students among the 300 people). arrested at Columbia or City College, according to Honan):
Check out The cityExcellent coverage for more on the NYPD’s crackdown on campus protests at both schools. Disturbingly, the cops tried – and apparently failed – to keep the press from covering the events.
In other news:
- Our friends at Vital City are out with a pile of big pieces on congestion pricing: Sam Schwartz on the potential dangers once the tolls are launched in June, Alan Levy on how the MTA can invest money collected from tolls “in a good way”, Nicole Gelinas on the need to recover the space left by fewer drivers for pedestrians and Henry Grabar on the parking policy. Streetsblog contributors John Suric and Austin Celestin are also in the pack, as the head of the Upper West Side community council and Streetsblog fixture Howard Yarus.
- The Times wants reader input in the state of the streets of New York City … with a strange frame that includes the phrase, “Looks like there are too many people?”
- Ignore the title — Bronx News12 decided to dive into a city community council recent push for more daylighting.
- Oonee has unveiled its latest safe on-street bike parking design. (Shabazz Stuart via Twitter)
- What prevents better transit connections at LaGuardia Airport? (City and State Edit)
- The F train rider who saw Daniel Penny kill Jordan Neely is “still reeling” from the harrowing experience a year later. (Gothamist)
- ICYMI, the boss went to Sweden – where he can’t seem to find covered or defaced license plates to fix:
