FIPS Broken News: A-holes Allegedly Set Up Cyclist Trap in Prospect Park and Cops Really Don't Care

via Michael Wilhelm

What sounds like something out of a Road Runner cartoon is really a very fucked up prank by a bunch of stupid jerks. Now that I've exorcised that demon: On the evening of May 20th, Michael Wihelm of Midwood was riding his bike in Prospect Park, like you do. As he approached the entrance near Bartel-Pritchard Square he noticed a rope strung across Park Drive. But it was too late, he rode right into it and was thrown over his handle bars on to the concrete. 

This is how he described it to Gothamist:

'I saw the rope the second before I hit it—I think the word 'shit' came out of my mouth, and that was it,' Wilhelm said. The next thing he knew, he was laying on the side of the road. 'My legs were strangely folded. I couldn't lay down, and my whole body was shaking. My friend was panicking, I think. He kept asking if he should call an ambulance. I kept telling him to call, but I couldn't get the word out.'

He spent the next two days in Lutheran Hospital recovering from six broken ribs and a fractured elbow. 

Wilhelm was riding with a friend, Yisroel Pupko who was able to stop in time to help Wilhem and call the ambulance and the police. Pupko told the police that the accident was a result of a wire pulled taut over Park Drive, but the police report said Wilhelm merely ran over a rope that caused him to fall. 

When Pupko tried to clarify that he felt the rope was tied intentionally, he reported that the police tried to brush him off citing "certain inconsistencies" that they needed to clarify. Pupko also said that another cyclist saw three "suspicious looking individuals" near the fire hydrant that the rope was tied to, but he couldn't give clear descriptions of the persons. According to Gothamist, a police spokesman suggested that the rope was accidently placed on the drive and that no crime was officially reported on that evening. 

Meanwhile, Steve Vaccarro, a lawyer for cyclists' rights says the incident should most definitely be investigated as a crime saying that kids or immature assholeish adults (my words not his) get off on hurting cyclists. He even cited the Park Slope gentlemen who was hit with a brick a few years ago riding through Fort Greene.

As for poor Wilhelm, he says he's a hurting puppy, but he was thankful he was wearing a helmet. He also says he's not certain he'll ever ride in the park again. "I guess the fear is always going to be there." His friend Pupko says he wants this investigated as a crime so no one else is hurt by such pranks: "This is to protect the next person, because my friend could easily have gotten killed."

It's nice to know the damn cops care. Font for sarcasm? Anyone?