that cop is a dick

Business as usual.

Glad he fought the ticket and won, but doubt it will change anything.

I once got lectured by a cop about crossing the street. First he told me I should not be crossing the street at the particular location (it was a marked pedestrian crossing, which he apparently could not see). When I pointed to the pedestrian crossing sign, cop says "I gotta get my eyes checked", then thought for a minute, then he said I shouldn't be crossing the street here at that particular time of day (6pm), because people are "just trying to get home from work to their families", and implied that me trying to cross the street on foot was a great "inconvenience" to drivers (my inconvenience was trying not to be killed while attempting to get dinner.)

A pedestrian or cyclist is struck and killed about once a week where I live and people think this is a completely normal part of daily life.

Whatever happened to cops "protecting" and "serving"? So many cop interactions nowadays seem to be "harass", "endanger" and "lecture to prove [cop's] ignorance of the law" and "bullying".

Sad state of affairs this country is in.

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Two wheels good. Four wheels bad.

With cops like him out there, there is no hope that we cyclists ever get fair treatment on the road.

If the cops don't know the laws how can we expect the public to know? Damn. Very disheartening.

The cyclist handled the situation very well....there are many others (not necessarily cyclists) that could learn from this. The cop was wrong, but the cyclist did his best not to let the situation escalate, and fight the ticket in the proper way(court), and not fighting with the cop then and there

Not just the cop:

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Take a short break from ST and read my blog:
http://tri-banter.blogspot.com/

That's probably the nicest thing you could call him. That's unbelievable.

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Instagram | Team Kiwami North America

Indeed. Too many police officers need much better training on acting less emotively and more professionally and not over-reacting or allowing unnecessary escalation. Understanding the law would help too.

That said, the vast majority do an excellent job and should be applauded for their efforts.

Maybe he was just a Buckeye fan.

With cops like him out there, there is no hope that we cyclists ever get fair treatment on the road.


I know this is where everyone likes to pile on the police, but generally speaking they our (cyclists) friends and advocates out on the road - at least they are in our area.

I find that very often when I am out riding I'll get a friendly nod or wave back from the police as they pass in their cars.

We have a few Police Officers that ride with our club, and are FWIW are pretty strong and accomplished cyclists.


Now like any population you'll find a range, and some that are not so friendly or competent. Last summer while 10 of us from the Club were out riding on a quiet country road in our customary tight two-up pace line a cruiser pulls up beside us and while rolling along beside, tells us that, we need to ride single-file. Riding two-abreast is not allowed! Which is wrong. We did not engage, or talk back at the time, just complied and went single file for a bit. I noted the cruiser#, the time and the location and phoned in a nice complaint when I got home.

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

Perception becomes reality.

The police here almost always give us a friendly wave. But everyone remembers the one time two years ago when one of us was pulled over by a State Trooper and told that cyclists couldn't ride on one of the local 2-lane state highways. "You're holding up traffic!" (Not that we shouldn't ride on that road, but that we couldn't ride on that road.) Oh well, at least the Trooper "let him off" with a warning as opposed to giving him a ticket. And we still get waves from most of the police.

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"Human existence is based upon two pillars: Compassion and knowledge. Compassion without knowledge is ineffective; Knowledge without compassion is inhuman." Victor Weisskopf.

That said, the vast majority do an excellent job and should be applauded for their efforts.

I wouldn't call it a majority, at least not anywhere I've lived. Maybe 50/50.

It's inherently a position that attracts people who are insecure and like power over others. They are real dicks if they've profiled you as someone they can be a dick to and get away with it. They are real nice otherwise, else they'd lose their job.

Unfortunately, being a fringe group with so much public opinion against us, many cops believe we are in the first category.

I can only go by what I've encountered and I've seen both sides. When living in Florida, there was a new crosswalk installed that required drivers to stop for pedestrians. In such a driver-centric location, it was despised. The County Sherif actually stated in a local paper that any pedestrian hit in the cross walk would be at fault. When I emailed him about it he started spewing out "laws" that were not anywhere in the Florida State driving statutes. When I replied under each of his statements with the corrected information (including references to the code where required) he got really ticked. So I forwarded the emails and a copy of the paper to the County Commissioner and things got taken care of. His bravado was unbelievable. He thought that as long as he stated something authoritatively, then it was law. It was an eye opening experience. And to do all of it in writing was just special.

Now, I have also had a car get pulled over for running a stop sign (a very common and RARELY ticketed occurrence there) because I was in the cross walk, which was really surprising to me, but does show the other side. Also, recently here in Texas where I moved, a car passed me within about a foot or so. To me, coming from Florida where I'm used to being pushed off the road daily by cars, I barely noticed it. Well, the cop behind him did and pulled him over right in front of me. I guess it comes from where I used to ride, but 50% of the people who would pass me would come within a foot of my shoulder. I guess I got used to it, but apparently it was enough for that cop. I had a moment where I felt bad for the driver.

We see a range of attitudes from the cops around the Houston/Sugar Land/Arcola area.

There are a couple of particular officers in the Arcola area that apparently do not like cyclists. As a weekly Saturday group we go down a shortish section of 2-lane road where the shoulder is so bad that we will ride single-file in the lane, again this is for a short straight section and we are typically going 20-25. A number of times an officer has used his vehicle speaker to order us to "get off his road" and onto the shoulder. This will be around 8:30-8:45 on a Saturday morning in a rural(ish) area when there are not that many people out and about. Maybe his wife ran off with a cyclist!

People should read up on their state and local ordinances... best way to defend yourself is knowledge.

So how many warrants do you have currently? I've found that the people that have problems with the police are generally people that have had problems with police. You get angry about people being bias'd against cyclists, yet have no compunctions about airing your own bias against cops. Teapot, kettle.

Granted, the cop here was wrong and was too stupid to take his ego out of it. But what about the judge who affirmed the decision? What about the prosecutor who wanted to charge all the other cyclists? They went to court and the first judge ruled the officer was correct. It had to go to an appeals court (on a F'in traffic ticket) to get the final decision. There is a major problem between a portion of the population who hates cyclists and they will do whatever they can to reinforce it. The cyclists in this case had to get to an appeals judge before they found somebody who didn't hate cyclists. That is the problem, and something which needs to be changed.

I felt my blood pressure going up just watching that.

It would be incredibly difficult to keep your cool when another adult is behaving the way the officer was. I know you have to but it sure would be interesting.

Excellent work by the cyclist to keep his cool in spite of the police officer's bullying.

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Jason
None of the secrets of success will work unless you do.

To me, this is the most disturbing part:

The prosecutor stated: “If any of you testify, you will also be charged with a civil infraction and we will be seeking additional charges based on what we saw in the video.”

Given rruff said, "Unfortunately, being a fringe group with so much public opinion against us, many cops believe we are in the first category" I would have to guess he is a cop himself, so I think he's in a better position to criticize cops.

ETA: although maybe I mis-read and he was referring to cyclists as "we", not cops.

This happened not too far from my regular routes and I do occasionally ride in the area where the guy got the ticket.

I put the lawyer's name in my contacts in case I run into that cop ;-)

So how many warrants do you have currently? I've found that the people that have problems with the police are generally people that have had problems with police. You get angry about people being bias'd against cyclists, yet have no compunctions about airing your own bias against cops. Teapot, kettle.

WTF?!

Never been arrested for anything in my life. You have bias coming out your ears.

I can only go by what I've encountered and I've seen both sides.

Yep, but you haven't really seen both sides unless you have spent a lot of time in the "unprotected demographic", ie the cops profile you as being someone they can harass with impunity.

I *have* been on both sides. It was an extreme eye opener. Growing up and living as a middle-upper class white male (typical ST demographic), I had no idea. Until I took that 13 year sabbatical to wander around in my pickup. Then I suddenly became someone who the predatory cops thought they could prey upon. The most severe incidents were being pulled over, pulled out of my truck and held at gunpoint while another cop ransacked my truck... and another when a cop came up (I was parked), opened the door and pulled me out, slammed me against the side of my truck and searched me. Zero cause or provocation in both cases. My calm and pleasant demeanor and lack of a criminal record or drugs etc, resulted in the cops actually feeling embarrassed at the end. I saw worse things happen to others. Are you aware of the term "guilty of driving while black"? It isn't a joke.

I've met some cops who really are awesome, super calm and clear in a crisis. Guys who take heaps of abuse and don't react. There are all kinds.

Thank you for proving my point.

My real question is why wasn't the officer disciplined for his unprofessional demeanor and actions, though I guess he might have been and we just didn't hear about it. Something like this would have seen me getting written up at my old job, and I would have deserved it. We all have bad days, but there needs to be a level of self awareness about what is and isn't acceptable.

Thank you for proving my point.

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My real question is why wasn't the officer disciplined for his unprofessional demeanor and actions, though I guess he might have been and we just didn't hear about it. Something like this would have seen me getting written up at my old job, and I would have deserved it. We all have bad days, but there needs to be a level of self awareness about what is and isn't acceptable.

Are you that naive? They aren't disciplined because no one with social or political influence forces the matter (usually). The cops don't prey on people with influence. If they are that stupid, they do get in trouble. It happens so often in so many places I'm pretty sure it's sanctioned and probably encouraged by the departments. Profile and harass "undesirables". This was obvious even when I was in the upper class living on the beach in LA. How do you think the cops kept those black and latino kids off the beach and out of town? "Probable cause" is a total joke. They make up any excuse.

Getting bike riders off the road is in a similar category, where the police are simply serving the public that they care about, to the detriment of those they don't.