Cop tickets bicyclist for "emergency brake" at stop sign

[Strelnikov_]

And another nice white lady discovers that cops are not your friend.


http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20120706/NEWS/120706020/Bicyclists-accuse-deputy-of-bullying-them-on-trail?Frontpage


http://cathyosreflections.blogspot.com/

[Gidney N Cloyd]

1. I'm no fan of cops and this one was being an asshole BUT...

How stupid do you have to be to (try to as your first instinct) blow through a stop sign with a cop in plain sight?

[AlecBGreen]

10. re-read it

"She said drivers often wave through the bicyclists at such stops, and she expected the deputy to do the same. When he didn’t, Olson said, the bicyclists stopped."

[Gidney N Cloyd]

14. I think I'm reading it fine.

She gave every indication she was going to blow the stop sign until she was convinced the cop was actually going to enforce the posted traffic laws, at which point she jammed on the brakes and received an unwanted lecture.

Check her blog, too. The woman has a real flair for the dramatic:

I smell injustice but plod on...interrupting the investigators as a new false accusation or characterization occurs. "Please let me finish," the officer begs. But I don't. I keep pleading for justice...hoping to see some kindness in his eyes, but I find none. "It's rude that you keep interrupting me," he says, and he is right. I am being rude.

But I want to cry and yell, "YOU started it! You are accusing me of all these terrible things. You are not kind to me, like I expected!! Can't you see I am a good person only trying to do what's right??"

No, they don't see this. Why did I think they would? Instead, this sergeant says to me, "We have people come in all the time and act like they are an Irish nun here, but out on the road, they were nothing like that." I drop my head and feel my faith in justice and goodness drift away. I leave defeated and beaten.

This may sound over-the-top, but I now have a greater understanding why women so rarely report a rape; it's ghastly and horrifying to bring a wrong to the attention of policemen only to have them accuse you...have them throw lies about yourself at you. "What do you mean he was harassing to you?" they say. "Didn't you ask for it with your behavior?" Soon, you don't know what to think.

But I do know this: I don't feel like working for justice anymore. As I sit here, dazed and sick, I wish I would NEVER have filed that complaint. Injustice? Hmmpf! These investigators didn't care about me nor my injustice. My day was spent accomplishing nothing but bringing more humiliation and anguish upon myself. Why did I have faith in the goodness of people and the value of justice?

[toddwv]

15. Simple question: Did the bicyclists stop or not?

If yes: then they didn't just "blow through a stop sign"

If they did: then why are you still arguing that it's ok to charge them with not stopping when they, in fact, did stop?

[Historic NY]

16. California stops are not allowed in Iowa........

as a matter of fact nowhere unless there is a yield sign.

Yield sign calls on the driver to do the following: Slow down, defer to oncoming or intersecting traffic, stop when necessary, proceed when safe, and remain aware of oncoming vehicles.


Stop sign calls on the driver to make a mandatory stop and proceed when safe. At a stop sign, the purpose of the limit line is to prevent the driver from entering the crosswalk or intersection inadvertently or at an excessive speed and shows the driver where to make the stop before proceeding through. Rolling stops are not acceptable. The driver of a vehicle must come to a complete stop before proceeding through the intersection.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=california+stop

[Gidney N Cloyd]

17. I suspect the ticket was more like "failure to obey a traffic signal."

There's stopping and there's stopping. Obeying a stop sign means more than just stopping, it means stopping safely. If you or I did what the biker did that in a car, you know we would have gotten some sort of moving violation.

That said, it would seem all they were about to receive initially was a traffic safety lecture--which they richly deserved. I suspect no ticket of any kind was at that point imminent and if the riders had then just shut up and listened to the lecture like adults, it probably would have been over.

[Speck Tater]

2. I once got a speeding ticket on a bicycle. (in a 15 MPH zone) nt

[polmaven]

3. Bicycle riders are, in most places,

required to follow the same rules of the road as motorists follow, so, if she eran a stop sign, right in front of a cop, she deserved a ticket. It is a dangerous thing to do.

[ret5hd]

6. But she didn't run a stop sign.

[HappyMe]

4. Bikes have to follow the rules of

the road, just as motorized vehicles do.

[datasuspect]

5. wow

although i feel this lady's pain, it's pretty mild compared to what our darker skinned and poverty stricken brothers and sisters must endure as a matter of course in any police interaction.

it's kinda good in one way: the more these unbalanced monster cops start flinging diahrrea at educated white people, you might start to see some change.

educated white people at least have a voice and aren't considered cultural untermenschen - their fellow white people won't automatically assume they automatically deserve to be treated that way by cops.

[Downwinder]

7. When they run out of youth and dark skin victims

Last edited Sat Jul 7, 2012, 02:02 PM - Edit history (1)

they start on the elderly.

[Hoyt]

8. I was detained by police in Macon, Ga., for riding a bike on right edge of road.

Young policeman pulled me over with sirens and lights. Said I was supposed to ride against traffic. Nope, I said, I'm suppose to ride with traffic and I ride right on the edge not to impede autos.

Policeman said I was wrong. I sat down and said call your supervisor, because I'm not riding at 25 - 30 mph toward cars. Supervisor finally arrived and kicked young policeman in rear and told him to apologize to me.

I was ready to go to jail, although a little worried about wearing those tight riding pants.

[AlecBGreen]

11. lol good move

I sat down and said call your supervisor, because I'm not riding at 25 - 30 mph toward cars. Supervisor finally arrived and kicked young policeman in rear and told him to apologize to me. "

that must have been satisfying At least he DID call the supervisor rather than just arresting and charging you with whatever he wanted.

[Phentex]

9. I can't feel her pain. At the very least, she should not have ridden off...

until the police officer was finished addressing either of them. Why would she leave her friend like that and not have two sets of ears for what the officer had to say? And it sounds like she was saying they would not have stopped had the officer waved them through - like they have done before.

Follow the rules or get off the road. And for your own safety, don't walk, ride or run away from a police officer!

[Matariki]

12. Good. Bicyclists need to learn that they have to follow traffic laws too.

I've had idiots suddenly swerve out in front of me on their bikes, or fly through stop signs without stopping, and then get mad at me for pointing out that they need to be careful or they'll get themselves killed. I've noticed a weird arrogance in this kind of cyclist - like they think the fact that they're on a bike makes them 'right' no matter what they do and that 'righteousness' will somehow save their sorry ass from getting hurt or killed. Pisses me off, and I'm an avid cyclist myself.

[WI_DEM]

13. pretty stupid by this cop, on the other hand every day I see bike riders ignore stop signs and light