Sometimes cops are incredibly rude.

So, I may be overreacting here. But, I don't think I am.

I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced something like this.

I was walking to work in NYC today and I usually pass through Times Square on 44th and walk past the "Good Morning America" studio. Depending on who their guest of the day is, the sidewalk is usually crowded with people looking into the window and trying to get a glimpse.

Today there was no one standing there but there was also no sign saying that the sidewalk was closed off and could not be used.

As I was crossing the street to pass the studio there were two policemen standing on the street just off the curb talking to one another.

As I approached, one of the cops sticks his arm out with his finger pointed across the street. This is all he does. He does not look away from his fellow officer nor does he address me in any way. So, I figure perhaps he's pointing something out to his co-worker and politely try to walk around him.

As I do so, the officer proceeds to turn around, walk up behind me, grab my shirt by the back of the collar, pull me backwards and then push me in the direction he was pointing (across the street) as there are cars coming at me.

Had I not been so taken aback and needed to get to work, I believe I would have turned around and said something to him. Though, I'm sure that would have gotten me in more trouble. But now I'm just steaming.

There was absolutely no reason for this officer to get physical with me and I do not believe he had the right to do so. I was not threatening anyone or presenting any danger. I'm assuming he thought I was purposely disregarding his "direction," if that's what you can call his half-assed attempt.

As an officer, you certainly have the right to walk in front of me, hold your hand out and say "Excuse me, you cannot use this sidewalk today. I'm going to need you to cross the street."

But, as a private citizens, we deserve as much respect as they do and they should not grab someone by the collar like an animal and treat them as such.

Forgive me if this is ranty. I don't normally air my grievances like this but I was especially pissed off.

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Excessive, yes. My guess is that they had been on that post for a long time and already dealt with idiots who wouldn't take "I'm sorry, the sidewalk is closed. I need you to cross the street" as an acceptable instruction. I'm sorry you had that bad experience.

In my personal experience, sadly, a majority of cops are the latter.

I'm reminded of this exchange from "The Sarah Silverman Program."

[ Cop pulls Sarah over ]

Cop: Do you know why I'm standing here?

Sarah: You got all C's in high school?

That's certainly true where I grew up. I look at the dopey d-bags from my high school class who became cops and am astonished that these people are allowed to exercise judgment over ANYTHING. And as George Bush Jr. taught us, the combination of stupidity and power is a dangerous thing, indeed.

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Excessive, yes. My guess is that they had been on that post for a long time and already dealt with idiots who wouldn't take "I'm sorry, the sidewalk is closed. I need you to cross the street" as an acceptable instruction. I'm sorry you had that bad experience.

That's still no excuse to physically assault a private citizen. Unless the OP is being a threat to himself or others there is simply no reason to touch him in a threatening manner. And I see grabbing someone by the collar as being "threatening".

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If you feel that you have been unfairly treated or harassed/assaulted by a police officer, be sure to get his or her name and badge ID and file a complaint. As you say, sometimes in the moment you might be so taken aback that it doesn't occur to you to do so, but it is important. Make a stink--be as specific as possible. With all that is going on these days regarding the legality of certain police conduct in New York, it's necessary to report and highlight any irregularities that happen to you.

This goes beyond simply being rude. If your story happened as you reported it here, you were harassed.

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Updated On: 9/4/13 at 03:16 PM

I think grabbing your shirt was a little excessive, but I also do not think a policeman should have to say "excuse me, but I need to have you walk, etc....." to you.

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Jane, I can kind of see where you're coming from but it was not a large crowd of people.

It was just me.

I don't think it's asking much to expect a policeman to be somewhat polite. They certainly expect it of us.

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Sorry you had an upsetting experience.

Every experience I've had with NY policemen has been polite, even in wild crowd situations, like the millions of people who congregate on my block on Gay Pride Day and Halloween!

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Not trying to trivialize your experience, as I'm pretty sure I'd be pissed too....but you could replace the word cops in your subject line with ANY profession and be correct.

SOMETIMES people are incredibly rude.

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That's true--and an even better reason for the cop to do more than ambiguously point while chatting.

The OP wasn't clear on what the cop meant, and the cop wasn't clear on whether the OP was deliberately disobeying. Unfortunate misunderstanding. If it happened to me, I'd be pretty mad also.

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And, since we actually don't know why the sidewalk was closed and what the officer was instructed to do, you don't know what kind of threat was being posed by pedestrians using that sidewalk.

Still not a reason to physically assault a private citizen. There is no reason to grab the OP forcefully. At all. A "hey, buddy, you can't walk there" would have sufficed. I cannot see a superior in the NYPD telling an officer to manhandle anyone who attempts to walk on that sidewalk.

The situation could have been handled better by the officer.

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