BenVoiles

A local cyclist was harassed and maced and almost died from asthma by a bunch of kids in a truck then they came back and went after him again. So the local sheriff threatened the cyclist with three felonies if he pressed charges. Yes that is right, he told the cyclist that he would be charged with three felonies if he pressed charges. I'm not kidding!!! I'll try to post a link to one of the articles but if not just google Marion County cyclist and several links will come up.

https://timesfreepress.com/news/2014/...that-wont-end/

cafzali

Don't disagree with your thesis about staying out of this place. I grew up in another section of TN and there's a reason I haven't lived there in almost 20 y ears.

All that aside, though, a district attorney has to follow through on these charges for them to be valid because the police don't actually prosecute, courts do. This cyclist easily has the grounds for a lawsuit against the county if he chooses to pursue it. I would, just for sport. Yet another reason I detest calling government officials public servants. There are many good ones, but equally many that couldn't find another private-sector opportunity if their lives depended on it.

FBinNY 

Based on the report, I don't see anything to support your premise.

It doesn't mention the sheriff threatening the cyclist with charges. It says the parents are accusing him, and want to press charges.

Changing stories and filing cross charges in criminal cases is SOP, and happens everywhere. We have investigators and courts to sort this stuff out.

Chris516

I wouldn't be afraid to bike in Marion County, Tennessee. BUT, Not until I get a helmetcam.

howsteepisit

Well that article supports little of the OP, perhaps the OP has a different report?

Matariki

At this point, it seems like "he said, they said". It sounds obvious that the kids harassed the cyclist, and we can guess that the cyclist was upset when they returned. The rest is all conjecture.

rydabent

Yeah sure------------------the kids felt threatened, so they came back for more. Give me a break!!!!!

genec

What I read was this...

Apparently when they went back Swanson leaned into the car and perhaps gave them an earful... the teens then hit him with pepper spray...

So the big question is why did the teens go back? What was their motive for confronting the cyclist again?

dynodonn 

Speaking from experience, teens are less apt to be satisfied on the first go around, and just let things be, especially if it didn't go their way the first time. Sounds like the teens thought that larger numbers of them would be more intimidating, and they found out otherwise.

All the times that I've had a bad verbal experiences with motorists, I was riding without cameras, and when I'm riding with cameras, not one verbal altercation. Seems that a number of local motorists are camera shy.

howsteepisit

I agree with dynodon here, this is one type of incident where I think a camera has significant benefit. It would ot surprise me if the teens in the incident had been drinking either. Of course I am just guessing on the drinking side of things. But for sure there was teenage bravado going on. There is an interesting (to me) question of what can you do to someone who sticks their head into your car?

This case once again demonstrates that the best policy is usually to just walk away, not go into attack mode. Not specifically blaming the cyclist, but getting your face into a group thats bent on messing with you sure seems to be a guarantee of escalation to me.

dynodonn 

Generally, this is good advice, especially when dealing with teens, who are still learning the processes on how to keep their emotions in better check, and the consequences of certain actions.

I-Like-To-Bike

A helmet cam will reduce your self proclaimed fear when cycling? How so?

I-Like-To-Bike

Rip the helmet cam off the head of the intruder, and say thanks for the gift?

unterhausen

I deleted some posts that contained political stereotypes. If you want that sort of discussion, the P&R forum is available.

Rollfast

That's a 2000 mile ride and December was rough on me.

ItsJustMe

If I were going into a situation like that, in addition to the helmet cam I'd be running video on my phone on instant upload. If they grabbed the phone, they'd be providing me with evidence of the theft as well even if they destroyed the phone.

dynodonn 

It seems that there was a surveillance camera in the parking lot where one of the confrontations had occurred between the cyclist and the teens.

"Burnett says video surveillance in a parking lot caught part of the confrontation."

"We have a copy of that and we have looked at it today. My detective looked at it and I looked at it. That will be part of the case file." When Channel 3 asked if the tape was revealing, he answered, "I can't say much about it because it's still an active, ongoing investigation."


https://www.wrcbtv.com/story/24466557...-investigating

B. Carfree

I was in Tennessee once. Nothing against the good people of TN (both of them), but once was enough for me.

howsteepisit

Way back, I used to ride several hundred touring miles in Tennessee every spring. It was very nice. People were quite friendly. But I was based in southern Illinois, home of a lot of redneck coal miners at that time.

Paul Barnard

Tennessee is a wonderful state. Well, from Nashville eastward is. The area in which this happened (Chattanooga) was recently ranked the best city in America by Outside Magazine. The sheriff's department moving slowly is probably a good thing. There's no reason to rush it.

-=(8)=-

Tennessee is one of the spectacular states we have, scenery wise, but very scary for me. Im in it regularly, and have actually had an Easy Rider moment where a local told me to get out of their state and back to mine upon seeing the Vermont tags on our car
I have also never seen so many cars torn apart on the side of the road with drug K-9's climbing through them
Dont know if I would be bold enough to cycle through it on my own

CB HI

TV news magazine ran a piece a few years ago about county police pulling cars over on the freeway and confiscating the cars and selling them off. All of the confiscated cars had out of state plates. The claim was the motorist had drugs, but the county was not prosecuting any of the so called druggies. The TV crew got pulled over with the claim by the cop that the crew was weaving all over. The many cameras on the car showed otherwise.

howsteepisit

Thought you were decidedly anti auto CBHI- you should be happy to see cars/drivers being persecuted.

CB HI

Please provide the post you claim show me as "decidedly anti auto".

howsteepisit

You mean like the many many posts where you lambast anybody who dares to suggest that a cyclist may be at fault in auto/bicycle collisions? Sorry not interested in chasing all those.