Angio Graham

A cyclist in Torrance California is riding along and sees a motorcycle cop doing radar duty while on a sidewalk.

The cyclist rides over to confront him and ask some questions.

The cyclist has video rolling.

After the cyclist questions the officer for a few minutes, the officer gets mad and detains the cyclist for an "illegal left turn".

The police officer handcuffs the cyclist and 12 additional police officers are called to the scene.

Police end up citing the cyclist for two offenses. One is making an illegal left turn and the other is for something about riding too close to the curb.

What the officer didn't realize is the cyclist had his video rolling the entire time and it clearly shows the cyclist didn't violate any traffic laws.

I know most of you are going to be highly critical of the cyclist but you have to admit that he was cited unlawfully cited.

Chris516

For the cyclist's sake, I hope a judge throws out the charges. Because, The one time I had a discussion with a local city officer, I only asked him to tell me the code he was citing. He told me, and I left it at that.

I would definitely want to catch a mistake by a police officer, on video. But I don't know how I would handle an argument that got on video. Probably the same way I handle the situation a couple years ago. When an officer saw me not holding a line, when I made a turn from a slight descent, to a slight ascent. It was one of the first times I had made that turn. So, Since he thought I had been drinking(which I knew I hadn't), he administered a breathalyzer test.

CB HI

The video is crap. Does not prove legal riding. Audio only proves the cop and cyclist are clueless on the actual CA laws.

Angio Graham

the first video shows a legal left turn. the cop said it was illegal and cited the cyclist. did you actually watch the video ?

CB HI

Again the video is crap and worthless in court. Can you show me where the video proves the cyclist signaled his turn?

Some of your other threads where the police approach and stop the cyclist, I am with you. But these videos and this cyclist do nothing to advance cyclist positions.

tergal

"if" the turn was legal then the citation is bunk , but the cyclist is a acting like a tool .

If you go looking for trouble you will find it .

UberGeek

Um, yeah. Exactly.

Why in the hell did the cyclist "confront" the cop in the first place?

PedalingFool

I'm all for holding police responsible and accountable...
But this guy is indeed a tool about it.

Just because a person is wearing a pretty uniform and a shiny badge doesn't mean that they should be above the
law and not questioned about it.

rydabent

For some reason more and more police officers seem to know little about vehicle code. Dont they teach them traffic laws any more?

genec

Wait, you are actually REQUIRED to signal a turn? If so, cops are missing loads of opportunity to ticket thousands of motorists daily.

MRT2

Indeed. How, exactly, is confronting the cops helpful to cyclists? Frankly, I could see my local cops throwing in a disorderly conduct citation on top of the traffic citation, just to be a--holes.

BTW, in the city of Milwaukee, the cops can ticket cyclists for not properly displaying a bicycle license. I am an attorney and had not heard of this but I looked it up and sure enough, there it was, right in the municipal code. Anyway, the cop never cited my client for that, but did search him and found an unlicensed gun, and arrested him for that.

So I filed a motion to suppress the stop, on the grounds that it was illegal. Under cross examination, the cop admitted thatstoppng cyclinsts for failing to display a bike license is a pretext, that in his years as an officer, he had NEVER seen a properly displayed bicycle license. So, if you are riding a bike in Milwaukee and don't have a sticker issued from the city for your bike, the cops can stop you, ticket you, and search you whenever they want, for no other reason.

In practice, it rarely happens, but if you make yourself a pest, it will.

Brandonub

What a bizarre situation where confronting an officer on illegal behavior is "looking for trouble". They've certainly done an effective job instilling fear in citizens when most of us (including myself) feel like we should quietly slink away and hope not to be noticed by cops.

spare_wheel

Because they are our employees. We pay their salaries. They serve us, not just a few rich ****** ****ers.

UberGeek

Maybe I'm missing something...

What was the reason for circling back, and confronting a cop? Did the cop originally stop the cyclist, ticket him, and then the cyclist turned around?

PedalingFool

If a police officer is not following the laws himself that he's paid to enforce then why shouldn't they be confronted about it?

UberGeek

So, the LEO confronted the cyclist first? Or, just because the LEO was on the sidewalk?

If it's because of the sidewalk (Sitting there), it's a principle called "Operational need".

Chief

Amen! So many in our society seem to have drank some sort of kool-aid that makes them feel subordinate to public servants, and are now forever confused about the difference between politeness and cowardice. I don't get it either.

volosong

What an ass! The cyclist ... not the LEO.

jerseyJim

The cop was sitting there with a radar gun. Trying to catch speeders. Making the road safer for cyclists.

This guy is a total tool IMO.

MRT2

IMO the cyclist crossed the line from politely asserting his rights to going out of his way to provoke some kind of confrontation, and in the process acting like an obnoxious prick. "I pay your salary?" Seriously? I would hate to be the next cyclist to come across this cop's path.

I have seen this in my practice. Compared to some of what I have seen (sometimes on video, frequently not), the cop here was relatively restrained. I presume the cyclist was white. If he were black, who knows what might have happened.

PedalingFool

LMAO...
Yea, I'm sure that's what exactly he was trying to catch speeders for and it had nothing to do with increasing the city's revenue.

PedalingFool

Only going to get worse with places like New York trying to pass laws that make it a crime to "annoy" police officers...
Give a cop a dirty look and he gets "annoyed" then you go to jail and pay a fine.

MRT2

You say that like its a bad thing.

Chief

Yes, this kool-aid also makes citizens view public servants (at all levels) as some sort of nobility class that is above question or consequence.

PedalingFool

Most laws are just excuses to extort money from citizens... They don't care about you or want to make you safer. They just want your money in their bank account.