New York Police Sergeant Arrested After Confrontation With Cyclist

[Tony T]

NYT: New York Police Sergeant Arrested After Confrontation With Cyclist

A New York City police officer pulled a gun on a bicyclist and later pushed the man to the ground in a fit of road rage in southwestern Queens, the police said on Thursday.

The officer, Sgt. Bradley Beamer, was making an illegal U-turn around 10 p.m. on Wednesday in Long Island City when he nearly struck the cyclist, the police said. The victim, a 34-year-old man, told investigators that he and Sergeant Beamer were arguing when the officer pulled out small black gun and threatened him near the intersections of Queens Plaza North and 24th Street.

Sergeant Beamer, 40, briefly left the scene, the police said, but returned and pushed the man off his bicycle to the ground. The cyclist had cuts on his leg, but did not go to the hospital, the police said.

Sergeant Beamer, who was off duty at the time, was taken into custody at the scene and placed under arrest around 6 a.m. on Thursday. He was charged with assault, harassment and menacing.

He was giving a desk appearance ticket and suspended from the Police Department without pay for 30 days.

Sergeant Beamer joined the department in 2005. He was most recently assigned to the Special Investigations Division of the Detective Bureau.

In a previous assignment in the 100th Precinct in Far Rockaway, he was honored for heroism in 2012 by the Sergeants Benevolent Association. An athlete, he was a player on the NYPD Blues softball team that won the Police World Series in 2010, after defeating the Ohio Lawmen.

Attempts to reach Sergeant Beamer by phone and email on Thursday afternoon were unsuccessful.