"This is for your safety..."
 

https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2019/07...kless-cyclist/


As the cop explains, the people on the street laugh at him.

good report. interesting to read that NYC cycling deaths increased 50% in 2019 (over 2018) & it's only July!

To bad they didn't have video of the collision. I would have liked to see if the cop used his siren. That is the way you should pull someone over, instead of curbing them.

Can't say for sure, but I suspect it might have to do with the proliferation of bike share programs. Lots more people riding, with a lot less experience.

Fantastic. I used to live right there, back when you couldn't have paid someone to ride a bike through there.

I'm assuming the cop did one of those maneuvers where they hit the car's back bumper while turning the wheel to get them to spin out. I'm not sure that's the best approach on a 40-pound bike.

I'm sure there are a few people here on bike forums who can tell the cop or the cyclist how to properly run red lights.

Secondly, since my joining BF and doing internet searches, I have found only two stories where cyclists cause a direct pedestrian death. Compare that to the annual rate of deaths of all types of road users by motor vehicles, pedestrian deaths due to cyclists are practically a non-issue. Annoyance is another matter.

Thirdly, using a car to stop someone would normally be called assault with a deadly weapon. Even though cops are licenced to use deadly weapons, deadly force against someone who poses no threat to the police or the public would be questionable.

For the sake of discussion, what should police in a vehicle do when trying to pull over a cyclist that won't stop?

It's not like the cop can hop out of the vehicle and pursue on foot to make an arrest.

Howabaout start with the simple premise that if someone isn't being violent, not to use violence against them?

Get far enough ahead of the bicycle rider that the passenger cop can step out and flag the bicycle rider down?

That's why you also need bike cops.

Listening to the video, the officer talks about making eye contact. Did he use his siren before the patrol vehicle made contact with the bicycle. Did he yell out the patrol vehicle window to pullover. If the officer did these things then by any means necessary he needs to stop him. But instead of denting up an expensive SUV get the officer a net gun like the one used on Arnold in The Running Man.

The only time I have been pulled over by the police the officer attempted to squeeze me against the curb. No lights, no siren no voice command. I had not broken any law.

Are you gonna tell the rest of that story? Sounds interesting to me. Were you on a bike? Why did he feel he needed to pull you over? What did he say and what happened?

This is a problem with chases generally. The cops get so fixated on making the stop that safety considerations get ignored. The correct answer is if you cannot safely make the stop, let him go. This isn't just a risk to the cyclist, it's a risk to the general public. Bystanders get hurt in these car chases quite often.

i know it's very common among le agencies to set out rules drastically limiting high speed chases because of the risk to the public and to officers. This happened after a rash of fatalities nationwide. If this Vision Zero nonsense is now being used as a reason to chase down bicyclists with SUVs, it's time to end it.

I was riding my tandem home from a once a week appointment and another bicyclist who had no intention of stopping at a light got really mad at me. I did not know he was drafting and we had words. Coming back home from the appointment a week later he hit me in the back on his way by and called me a fat looser. The following week I saw him approaching in my take a look mirror and swerved so he was forced to stay away. This did not detour him and he kept making passes at me.I then sprayed some Halt dog spray at him. He then pronounced that he was calling the police. I encouraged him to do so. I told him he was a loon. I had to listen to him calling me names for several more miles. An officer pulled up next to me and swerved to the curb. I was going up hill at around 10mph so I stopped dismounted and put me and the tandem on the sidewalk. The officer gets out of the patrol car and tells me he did not tell me I could get off of my bicycle. I laughed at him and said you attempted to make me crash my bicycle. The officer decided to talk to the clown who caused the problem then pronounced that he was going to have the clown make a citizens arrest. I asked for a super visor and told the officer that I will take this to court. At this point they conversed and said they were letting me go. The officer told me to stop leering at him.

So here ends the most complete version of my encounter with officer antisocial and his partner the wannabe bicycle racer/wannabe fireman. Some days it's not worth chewing through the restraints.

I'm guessing your pulling out the dog spray would considered assault (as what the driver did) but if you had pulled out a gun, then you could plead it was for defence.

As a born and lifelong NY'er presently living away from the city, I keep up with current events via podcasts of shows originating there. This episode caught my attention: https://www.wnyc.org/story/the-brian...how-2019-07-08. The second segment is obviously the relevant one. Listen to that caller claiming to be a cyclist but quoting chapter and verse from the motorists creed regarding vulnerable road users. This is nothing new. Motorists have long felt that the majority of vehicular cyclists are out of control and need to be taught a lesson. Now I don't believe for a minute that drivers are out for a cyclist genocide but in this present social climate of intolerance of all kinds the knee jerk reaction these days is anger. When the sight of a cyclist angers you you will be that beat late in applying the brake when you see they are in trouble. That's all it takes. A microseconds delay in taking the action that would have saved their life.

There is a stoplight at the bottom of a hill by my house. One day at 04:00 am for my commute, I approached the light as it turned red.

I stopped & waited for the cross path to cycle green, then to red.

A car approached the on coming turn lane. It cycled for them. They made their left. Then the cross path cycled back to green.

The whole time I'm standing there. So I decide to utilize RCW 46.61.184, mount my bike & proceed through the lighted intersection. A few seconds later one of the town's finest pulls along side me & flips on his lights as I cruise at 25mph. He flips on his loud speaker/public address and says: "Do not run red lights. Do you understand?"
I reply: "Yes."
"This is for YOUR safety. Do YOU understand?"
I reply: "YES!" He then shuts everything down and speeds away.

What an effin' jerk. The bike lane is slightly down hill, then slightly up so that it fills with gravel, debris, and the garbage of a city block that collects there. Me & my 70 pounds of bike/panniers loaded with my lunch box, rain gear and assorted items, needed to be in the traffic lane his police SUV was occupying for my own actual safety needs to avoid debris and broken pavement!

I'm sure the apartment dwellers immediatly adjacent appreciate his concern for my safety at 4am.

smh :twitchy:

Not assault

Legally, it's definitely an assault. You had a plausible self-defense justification, but if you had just sprayed a random person for no reason, you would definitely have assaulted them.

Actually, self-defense justification requires that you admit you committed the otherwise illegal act, but that you prove it was reasonable and necessary under the circumstances.

The Weight weenie on the road bike had already assaulted me once. He attempted to strike me again. I defended myself from a second attack. His attempt to claim I assaulted him held no water. Ill just have to chalk it up to another basement dwelling unhappy person crying out for more attention. I never saw him again. I'm guessing he figured out that starting a fight and then calling home to mama doesn't always work.

NO ASSAULT Just an angry basement dweller.

Hmmm..

Glad nobody was actually hurt. This could have ended badly... for the cyclist.

I have to wonder if CitiBikes has the tracking info that the NYPD could serve them with a warrant and get the name and identity of the cyclist.

So, let the cyclist continue on their merry way, but snag the person later at home/work/mail/etc.

Wow, that when downhill faster than I thought.

This was about an incident in NYC it appears. When it turns into a gee, I was wronged and how discussion it loses it point and way.

You're missing the point of what I wrote--essentially, when you claim self-defense, you are saying you committed a justified assault. We're not disagreeing, you're just using terminology incorrectly.

If he had only called you a name and you sprayed him in the face, that would have been an unjustified assault. It's the fact that he had struck you before and appeared to be preparing to do it again that makes it self-defense.

https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2019/07/...ing-red-light/

https://i2.wp.com/nyc.streetsblog.or...-cyclist-1.png

It would be interesting to see the entire low-speed chase, not just the aftermath.

There likely are damages to the police car, the bicycle, and the parked car. Who pays?

The police car was obviously moving at the point of impact, wedging the bike in tight. And, the seat is now wedged under the rear fender. If the cyclist hadn't been somehow ejected from the bike, he could have lost a leg.

This is like shooting a person to prevent them from entering a situation where they could potentially get shot.

Everyone is lucky there weren't severe injuries.