Alec Baldwin was arrested for biking the wrong way in New York

[Electric Monk]

Source: Washington Post

Perpetually calm and [link:http://popwatch.ew.com/2011/12/08/alec-baldwin-open-letter-apology/|even-keeled actor Alec Baldwin, who has famously never raised his voice or gotten angry and who has definitely never said anything insulting to entire demographic groups, was arrested in New York on Tuesday morning for biking the wrong way down a Manhattan street.

He “became belligerent and argumentative with the officers,” police told the New York Times, marking perhaps the first time that noted avatar of equanimity Alec Baldwin has even been associated with such words.

His arrest came during a two-day police crackdown meant to eliminate traffic fatalities.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2014/05/13/alec-baldwin-was-arrested-for-biking-the-wrong-way-in-new-york/

[PeteSelman]

1. He's an asshat.

He's the go to liberal asshole the right can point to and be correct.

[Skittles]

8. he's not as bad as the go to teabagging repukes

[PeteSelman]

10. Without a doubt.

Baldwin is a douche but he's no Ted Nugent.

[balthazar2]

11. He is an arrogant prick.

Nothing else describes quite so well. Arrogant. Prick.

[Skittles]

14. and I'm saying, he doesn't represent liberals

the percentage of arrogant repuke pricks is overwhelming

[japple]

2. Ho-hum

[KamaAina]

3. If they would crack down on that in San Jose,

they'd have to throw all the perps into the Shark Tank (which, alas, is available ).

[FailureToCommunicate]

4. It hardly matters WHO you are. Arguing with the police seldon turns out well. If you're black,

long haired, a female Occupy protester, or just minding your own bees wax...**whack!** and you're handcuffed, arrested, or dead.


I know there are good cops. We have some here in Boston. There are a few left in New York. I remember reading about how nice, helpful and trustworthy they used to be...

(and yes, I know cracking down on wrong way bike riding is probably a worthwhile enforcement tactic. I had a biking friend who was killed by a hit run driver)

[balthazar2]

9. Uh, no.

From your post: "I remember reading about how nice, helpful and trustworthy they used to be...."

I'm not sure what period of time your source is referencing, but
the NYC police, like their brethren in Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles, have a long history of corruption and violence going back to the Nineteenth Century.

[FailureToCommunicate]

18. Welcome to DU! I was thinking of kids books we might have read like...

?w=488&h=488

?w=488&h=488

My first run in with police happened at 15, but then, I WAS with some black friends, so I shouldn't have been surprised. ANd Watts had just happened. We were actually discussing the conclusions of the Kerner Commission report that had just been published. Cops pulled up, patted us down, and looked at the book with some nasty comment. That just about cemented our relationship from then on...

[Ash_F]

29. Unless you are Clive Bundy. /nt

[bigwillq]

5. I wish Alec Baldwin would just go away (nt)

[ForgoTheConsequence]

6. Rules don't apply to Alec.

What an asshole.

[YOHABLO]

7. Why should I care? Why is this news?

[Helen Borg]

12. Don't many people bike "the wrong way"

So they can see incoming cars and possibly avoid them, instead of being hit from the back?

[Art_from_Ark]

13. There are many reasons why "biking the wrong way" is wrong

1) If a bicycle is coming toward a car from one side of a narrow street, and another car is coming toward it from the other side, it is annoying, and sometimes difficult or even dangerous, for the driver in the middle to drive between the bike and the other car that are both coming from the opposite direction.

2) If you are driving a car and approaching a blind curve, and a bike traveling in the same direction is also approaching the blind curve, you can easily see the bike and take appropriate action. However, if the bike is approaching you from the blind curve, in your lane, it can result in a bad accident.

3) When making a turn from a stop, a driver expects wheeled vehicles to be traveling on the outer side of the cross street if they are coming from his/her right, and on the inner side of the cross street if they are coming from his/her left. A bike riding on the wrong side of the road can be creating an artificial blind spot and not be seen until it's too late.

I both drive and ride a bicycle, and will say that I have experienced each of the instances I have described above (as a driver), and several times it nearly resulted in an accident.

[thesquanderer]

15. It's dangerous (and, in NY, also illegal)

One reason... Let's say you're biking along at 15 mph, and a car is traveling at 30 mph. If you hit head-on, you have, in essence, a 45 mph impact. If you're hit the same direction from the rear, you essentially have a 15 mph impact.

Also, for safety, bicyclists are supposed to follow all the same road rules as the cars. In Manhattan, most roads are one-way. There is no way to follow road instructions from the other direction. For example, you wouldn't be able to tell, coming up on an intersection, whether the "light" is red or green.

Also, in a bike lane, you'd have to deal with bikes heading into each other, if some were riding with the flow of traffic, and some were riding against it.

[Helen Borg]

20. Good points there.

Just wondering why he was doing it. Trying to get a shortcut or what...

[thesquanderer]

21. Yes, probably salmoning (i.e. swimming upstream) to save time

http://gothamist.com/2013/06/21/in_defense_of_salmoning_on_a_bike.php#

[Helen Borg]

24. In 2010...

The young son of a colleague at Brooklyn College was run over and killed while he was biking near some big intersection in Brooklyn. He was doing nothing wrong, a van just did not stop at the traffic light. Tragic. Dangerous place for bikers, so when I saw the map in the article you mention, I really wondered which one of the two routes is more dangerous (not just longer).

[rickford66]

16. Aren't the millitias going to help him?

He didn't recognize the law about riding. He wants his freedom. Where's Bundy now?

[CBGLuthier]

17. Why Will No One Start a Fund to find a cure for Narcissism?

Must the world suffer forever?

[lululu]

19. Needs to calm down, or he'll have a stroke.

If you get angry every time you encounter an idiot, you will have a short life, Alec.

[Stingray steve]

22. It's as if he can't control himself

He must know this is going public

[JackRiddler]

23. NYPD crack down on bike riders for no particular reason

- Nothing better to do

- Must justify size of "world's fourth largest army" (Bloomberg)

- Pretend it's about law and order, satisfy auto fetishists

- Arrest some celebrity who may or may not have talked trash at them

- Corporate media totally cover the story (the celebrity part, anyway)

- Who cares whahappen, his name suffices to convict him

[Beacool]

25. He has anger management problems.

He seems to lose his cool far too often. He also appears that he has a sense of entitlement. This is not the first time that he tried to get away with breaking the rules because of his fame. Remember when he got kicked off a plane for refusing to shut off his phone?

The guy is a jerk.

[SummerSnow]

26. was he mad? lol

[olddad56]

27. I wish that bicyclist where I live would at least be ticketed for traffic violations.

I'm all for sharing the road, but that should mean sharing the rules also.

[goldent]

28. As a pedestrian, it is annoying and dangerous for any traffic,

including bicycle traffic, to be travelling the wrong way on the cross streets. Bicycle-pedestrian collisions can be very bad.