NYC motorcycle road rage incident may have ruined a large investigation [View all]

[steve2470]

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505263_162-57606634/nyc-motorcycle-road-rage-incident-may-have-ruined-a-large-investigation/

(CBS News) There were two more arrests in the biker road rage case in New York. One suspect is an undercover police detective, and has been charged in the attack. He is allegedly seen on video hitting and kicking an SUV, before the driver, Alexian Lien, was attacked.

CBS News senior correspondent John Miller, a former deputy commissioner with the New York Police Department, said on "CBS This Morning": "This is a story that starts out as not such a good day (for the NYPD) because they had a detective on the scene who was undercover, who took no action to intervene, and then waited four days to come forward and say, 'I was there.' That got worse (on Tuesday) when they reviewed the videotapes they received this week from other sources other than the YouTube video we first saw, and they see their own detective allegedly banging out the back window of the SUV during the incidents that led up to the man being dragged from the car. So that really changed the calculus from, was this a departmental matter to a criminal matter."

Turning to the police detective's undercover status, Miller said not breaking cover is one of the officer's primary jobs, but added, "that doesn't mean that you can't get in the middle and say, 'Hey guys, break it up,' or 'let's stop this.' You don't have to jump out and say, 'I am a secret police officer'. "

However, the officer was not only not intervening, he was allegedly part of the melee.