cppb

I think that the general reaction wa indeed, "awesome! One less jerk on the streets (at least temporarily)." but after this has been said, there are still legitimate issues to discuss. After all, what is the point of congratulating each other on a good thing being done? This is a discussion forum, so people are discussing what possible solutions exist to the problems that this one officer did not solve. No one is really criticizing LEO's, especially not the ones who actually ride bikes and/or enforce the laws that protect cyclists. Sure, they have a lot to do. I think most of us know that, but advocacy starts with a discussion of the need for new and/or different programs.

Pointless, maybe, but this is BF after all

Digital_Cowboy

This is very true, or in the case of a cop riding a bike either to work like Mr. Santos or on duty ya never know who on a bike might have a gun.

atbman

Mugshot details: 5'8" 250lbs

Digital_Cowboy

Good questions, good questions. Actually in order to "properly" conduct their sting operation they would have to have one or more radio cars already in the area working with LEO on the bike. So that he can easily radio a description of the car to his backup.

They can also do the same type of sting for getting drivers who pass too closely to cyclists. What they can do is to mark off an area that is three feet from where cyclists would normally ride on a given road. And any car that passes too close to the undercover LEO he calls it into his backup and they pull the driver over and ticket him.

Digital_Cowboy

Yeah, I don't see him being able to cover too much ground, but every little bit helps.

2wheelcommute

We've got one in LA: Sgt. Krumer. He's the best.

TysonC

<--This guy.

TysonC

So, guys, having been LEO let me give you the skinny.

Do you know why most suburban and even a lot of urban LE agencies fixate on traffic? It's by and large the number one complaint from citizens. So all these, "why are you writing me a ticket, go catch a ******" comments could honestly be followed by, "because we work for the citizens of X town/X county and they tell us they want something done about the no goodnicks and hoodlums racing down their streets and 105 miles an hour".

Most people don't really take the time to realize that law enforcement is customer service and the customer is the tax payer of their jurisdiction. For the agency I had worked for the Chief went to every community meeting planned with the Community Relations Officer. Cops have bosses too and the chain of command doesn't stop at Chief or Sheriff. It usually stops at council/mayor/governor, you know, the people who depend on you for votes.

I'd recommend that if you honestly wanted some sort of LE/cyclist partnership, that you be proactive and exert the effort to start brokering that kind of relationship. Get the community involved.

B. Carfree

Oh sure, make me jealous. My city is a city manager run city. That means the chief of police and every city employee answer only to the city manager. Thus, the only traffic enforcement that is done hereabouts is done in the city manager's neighborhood. This in spite of numerous polls that show the citizens want traffic enforcement. I suspect my local cops are aware of the fact that the most dangerous job they can do is traffic enforcement. I think they are just cowards. I envy folks who have braver people in blue.

JGRunat

At least where I'm from, though I'd be willing to put money on it being the same in most states, LEO's can not affect an arrest for most misdemeanor crimes, other than those on a specified list, unless they personally witness,or are informed of the event by another officer who personally witnessed, the crime being committed. In Florida simple assault is not on this list, whereas simple battery is. In your specific case, I believe, it could be upgraded to Throwing a deadly missile (FS790.19) which is a 2nd degree felony (or at least agg. assault) and therefore could be pursued. But then, having no description of the driver, you would have a harder time proving culpability.

My main point is that many times Law Enforcement Officers do not pursue some of these cases because the law simply does not allow it. Believe it or not, cops are out there doing their best to protect everyone, not just people in cars.

ItsJustMe

Yup, had that not been a cop on the bike, even if the cyclist had video evidence, the police probably wouldn't have done anything.

But at least in this one case the right thing is happening, and perhaps in the future at least this one police department will act correctly.

Digital_Cowboy

Hopefully so, hopefully so.

At least now that "one of their own" was the victim of vehicular assault/road rage they'll hopefully take it more seriously the next time a civilian comes to them to complain about being harassed by motorists.

cppb

In TN, assaulting someone using a vehicle as in my friend's case is a Class C Felony. I think that this absolutely merits police action, even if it is unlikely that a felony charge could stick, the viollation was egregious enough (both in common sense and legal terms) to merit the filing of some charge. Again, the rider has both a physical description of the driver and the plate number. Felony charges can be filed on this sort of evidence to the best of my knowledge, but I will check on that today. It was a very recent accident, so I don't want to jump to the conclusion that they won't do anything yet, it's just that in my experience I won't be surprised.

In my case, you are right that because it is a Class A misdemeanor it is unlikely that an arrest can be issued without a police witness. However, I have heard of LEO's making a phone call to warn people, and I think for everyone's sake this is merited. I mean, they will drive out to your house to lecture a little kid who calls 911 for fun, but they won't drive out to someone's house who assaults somebody? I find this preposterous.

JGRunat

You are correct with assaulting using the vehicle, as it's at least agg. assault if there is not a separate statute for it. However, you have to remember probable cause. You may have the description and plate number, but at that point all the officer has is enough information for reasonable suspicion. They need to investigate, and unless the offender produces more evidence, or there is physical evidence (they hit the bike and there's paint transfer, etc), there simply won't be enough information to pursue the matter as it's simply he said / she said.

As for making a phone call, this is a bit of community oriented policing and a bit of a scare tactic on the police officers part. They don't have any real authority to call and lecture people over the phone. But it does look good to the community and might prevent a further incident. I will say it's a very different matter, from a legal stand point, with prank calling 911, where you have all the evidence needed to make an arrest at the time. Also many 911 pranks will not be known to be pranks until after the officer arrives on scene.

cppb

Oh, I mean I'm not talking about prank calls when they need to show up in case there is a real danger. I'm talking about when a kid calls 911 to talk and its obvious he's just dialing it cause he knows its a number. Then they send a car out at some point to kindly talk to the kid about not calling 911 unless there is an emergency (and to the parents about making sure the kid doesn't).

As to the aggravated assualt (this is what was written on the incident report, so good sign), I'm not a proponent of just arresting people on reasonable suspicion, but the police do have authority to go to the guy's house on reasonable suspicion and ask him, "hey, did you push a cyclist over the other day?" People admit to crimes all the time just because they were asked in a nice/tricky/menacing/whatever manner. My problem will be if they refuse to even ask the question or investigate at all, even though it would only take about ten minutes of investigation

genec

The issue with probable cause is that road rage may happen to a cyclist who is doing everything legally correct and proper, but a motorist feels that they "own the road" and bikes don't belong... which pretty much sounds like the situation in the OP.

RoadieRex

Wait...so this guy was fat, driving an SUV, and had bicycle rage? Wow... that's TOTALLY not stereotypical...

JGRunat

What exactly does that have to do with probable cause? Probable cause is a legal term having to do with the amount of evidence required to affect an arrest.

Digital_Cowboy

Or they'll go out and arrest an adult who has abused the 911 system. Yet won't listen to/help a cyclist with aggressive motorists.

randya

anecdotally, motorists used to clog the local 911 system with calls when they were delayed by Critical Mass. That's not an emergency call, and yet, rather than charging the motorist with abuse of the 911 system, the cops would turn out and bust the cyclists.

Digital_Cowboy

Exactly, even if they don't admit to any wrong doing when the police show up on their door. Hopefully just having the police show up on their doorstep will be enough to scare them into rethinking their actions in the future.

Digital_Cowboy

Yep, or think about how fast motorists would be to call 911 if they had a "large" group of cyclists riding single file through an intersection, unclipping putting one foot down and coming to a complete stop. I can just "hear that call."

911: Yes, what is your emergency?
Driver: I'm at 4th St. and 4th Ave. and there is a large number of cyclists riding through an intersection and I can't get around them.
911: What do you want us to do about it?
Driver: Come out and make them get off of the road.

Or something to that effect.

TysonC

Which would be followed by -

911: Sir/Ma'am, this is an emergency line. Please call the non-emergency number or contact the city/county manager to file a complaint.

Seriously, some of you guys have no clue how modern LE works.

Digital_Cowboy

Actually they should be told that the cyclists are riding both legally and safely and they just need to wait their turn as they would with other motorists.

Which is also why when I've had to call the police about a bar across the street from where I live for being too noisy I call the non-emergency number. I would only call 911 if there were people in their parking lot actually fighting.

dynodonn 

Due to budget cuts, our local non emergency line is turned off after 6pm, and any calls are then directed to either call 911 or wait and report it until the next business day.

Funny, I reported a close pass by a motorist a day after the incident,( I had license number, vehicle description, video taped, after business hours, so no hurry on my part I thought) and I was politely chastised for not calling 911 the day before.