By now many have seen the video of the altercation on the Westside Highway in NYC where enraged bikers chased down a man and his family driving an SUV after he ran over one of their comrades. It’s a scene out of a movie and for many its frightening.. In watching the six-minute video, a lot of questions are raised starting with ‘Where the hell was NYPD?’

This question is asked in the backdrop of knowing how intrusive and well-resourced NYPD is said to be. Here we have a department that is 40 thousand deep in personnel. We have department that has stopped and frisked NYC residents over 5 million times. In some neighborhoods it seems like police are stopping and frisking people darn near ever 3 minutes.

We have a police department that rivals the FBI and other federal law enforcement divisions in terms of its surveillance capabilities . They make no bones about spying on American-Muslims and their organizations, which has led many to accuse NYPD of being in violation of a number of laws and to say the least over the top in its practice.

We have a department that left no stone unturned when it came to surveilling, containing and in the end bashing on the Occupy Wall street Movement.  We saw the city’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg brag that NYPD was his private army that is unmatched by any police agency in the world..

It’s with that in mind that one needs to wonder how there were no police insight on one of the city’s most heavily traveled freeways? In the video we see a chase that lasts for 6 long minutes with no law enforcement in sight. One has to ask where are all the surveillance cameras that NYPD has been using to spy on citizens? They have cameras on the floors over every housing project but none on the Westside Highway which runs along the Hudson River? Isn’t that freeway of point on entry that should be watched in case of ‘terrorist’ attacks?

NY’s Domain Awareness System

It was just last year that NYPD bragged to the world that they had teamed up with Microsoft to set up a top-tier all-seeing state of the art, Domain/ Domestic Awareness System that does everything from read license plates to face recognition. Over 3000 cameras have been placed in lower Manhattan alone.. You can read about that system HERE and HERE.

One would think if there was anytime that these domestic spying systems would’ve been used would’ve been over the weekend when close to 60 bikers held court on a freeway and chased down the SUV, especially if the reports of them blocking off freeway entrances are true..

Take a look at the video and ask where’s Bloomberg’s Private Army?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5ftcC2I0hc

Injured biker Edwin Mieses

With respect to the attack there are a number of conflicting reports.. The bikers are claiming the man in the SUV, Alexian Lien who is an executive at an internet company, bumped one of the bikers with his car. When the bikers went to help, Lien hit the gas and ran over several men including Edwin Mieses who was bent over his fallen friend helping him. Mieses had his spine severely injured and is now permanently paralyzed. His wife is calling for Lien to be arrested and charged.

The bikers are claiming that’s why they chased down Lien and his family. They didn’t want him to get away. They claim what took place was a road rage incident.

The flip side to this story was the bikers had already been riding around swarming cars prior to getting on the freeway. Once on the freeway they had blocked off entrances and one of the drivers went and brake checked the SUV driven by Lien.  When the bike was hit from behind, bikers surrounded the vehicle and that’s when Lien whose 2-year-old daughter and wife were in the car with him hit the gas running over the bikers.

Lien was eventually caught when he exited in upper Manhattan. That’s when bikers smashed the window, dragged him out the car and beat him in front of his daughter and wife.

Eventually all that really happened will come out in the wash..Who was right and who was wrong will be sorted out. In the meantime all of us should be asking how a major freeway was shut down in the Big Apple for more than 6 minutes with a police agency notorious for conducting surveillance on everyone inspite of concerns and objections, was no where in sight?

This police agency conducts millions of stop and frisk where 90% of those detained are found to NOT be in violation of any law. Police commissioner Ray Kelly says he wants to increase Stop and Frisk, but a major incident like this jumps off and they are nowhere to be seen? Something ain’t right in Gotham