Rank still has its privilege, as my son learned

My son was hit by an SUV in Manhattan. He was riding his bike in line with traffic when a blacked-out SUV sideswiped him, bending the bike’s frame, knocking him crashing along the side of the SUV and throwing him down on the pavement by a bus stop. The driver never stopped, sped off. The people at the bus stop agreed to be witnesses. The police who took the report agreed that it was an easy catch because the area had multiple video cameras. My son went to hospital, had X-rays and, because he is so fit and was able to roll away instead of impact a lamppost, he had no broken bones, only scrapes and bruises. The $3,000 bike was a write-off. No insurance. Nevermind, the police said, we’ll catch the culprit.Ah, next time there was an interview, the officer said that, yes, they had video but that the video was state property and could not be released. They said the driver was not identified. Privately, the officer said the SUV was clearly an official car. He advised not suing, since there were no broken bones, but to file under a New York state law for hit-and-run victims that will pay up to $50,000. Friends, who are lawyers, concurred. No broken bones, no lawsuit. New York state compensation was the way to go.So, not hating the police, my son agreed. Went to City Hall, filled in paperwork, was assured that at the very least he would get the hospital out-of-pocket and bike costs refunded. That was months ago. Result? New York state has no evidence that any hit-and-run happened or resulted in injury. The police report? Not sufficient evidence. The video? Not assessable. The result? Cover up, corruption and a perfect (small) example why people are so damn mad at the government and our so-called leaders. It is not a huge example, is it? My son is OK and he’ll save up to buy another bike, one that can last on New York City streets. But these types of stories are being repeated all across the country, many of them far worse. • • •In Albuquerque, a police department already reeling from a federal investigation of how many suspects they gun down without proper reason, just last month shot and killed a young woman who they say was trying to steal a car. They said she “pointed a weapon” and they fired first in self-defense (“first” in “defense”?). Well, as each officer has a lapel camera ... oops, suddenly the police chief won’t admit they either had them on or, if they did, if there is video. “We have no video to show at this time.” And the weapon? “No weapon was found.” Cover up in place. And do you remember the woman and her kids the New Mexico state police fired upon when she got scared and tried to drive away — straight to a hotel asking for protection? Well, the New Mexico police have charged her for evading arrest (speeding). And officer Montoya, who fired into a minivan full of kids? Gov. Martinez even agreed he should be fired: “You don’t use deadly force against someone who is not threatening you with deadly force.” Result? So far, it’s likely Montoya will be back, armed. Reform of the State Troopers? Nope, none, unions and politicians coming to their defense. They protect their own.And remember the great cops in Oregon who made protestors kneel and then went down the line spraying pepper or tear gas straight into their faces? Punished? Nope.• • •The point of all this is that good police officers and government officials around the country are being let down by power-mad colleagues who literally bend the law or, at the very least, disregard the law. Until our country and each individual state, county and city decide that, as in yesteryear, police should be (and be seen as) part of the community, that officials must remember that they are, first and foremost servants of each individual member of the public — until that change takes place, the divide between the public and the enforcers, the perceived dangerous, armed, or all-powerful officials who stack the deck against the members of the public — that divide, that wound in society, will grow and fester. That wound is the breeding ground of radial groups, creating a fearful need to bear arms, and, worst of all, instilling a growing feeling that our country has been taken away from us, the people. From such incendiary feelings a revolution can take flame.Peter Riva, a former resident of Amenia Union, now lives in New Mexico.