Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - Hassled by the cops much?

So tonite I went out for a ride, nice little 5.3 miler to my buddies house, only downside is two large overpasses that dont have sidewalks to use, normally its low traffic at around 1030 (when I was riding) and I just power through them.

Now the second one is where I ran into a problem. There are 3 lanes of traffic, one of which is an off/onramp to a major freeway. As I come up the top I position myself outside of the onramp but to the rightmost of the second lane. I crest it and start down and a spotlight hits me, I slow to a stop and cop gets out starts talking to me.

This is where I slip up, not thinking I let my hand slip into my hoodie pocket, he calls it out and i take off the hoodie to keep it from happening again. Out of no where he decides to ask me how much crank (meth) Ive been smoking tonight. Administers a road side test and decides yup, Im spun like a top (stone cold sober). Said my eyes were fluttering or some BS. Then he drops the Training Day line "Do you want to o home or do you want to go to jail?" Thats when I knew it was over.

tl;dr Cliffs:
While biking ******* cop pulls me over and tells me Im high on meth
Takes me to jail and lets me sit in a cell for 6 hours on a bs charge
Released at 430 in the morning to get home

did they give you any citations other than sending you to the drunk tank? You could have a blood test done to prove you were not on anything illegal and file a formal complaint against the cop.

He said you were on meth?

That is so random. I mean, assuming you were acting normal for all intents and purposes.

I did hear some cyclist say that he was issued a SPEEDING ticket once in England.

He said you were on meth?

That is so random. I mean, assuming you were acting normal for all intents and purposes.

I did hear some cyclist say that he was issued a SPEEDING ticket once in England.

i smell bs

i smell bs as well.

He said you were on meth?

That is so random. I mean, assuming you were acting normal for all intents and purposes.

I did hear some cyclist say that he was issued a SPEEDING ticket once in England.

****, I would laminate that and carry it with me everywhere I went...


As to the OP, some cops are dicks. It's a pretty safe bet that a cop who goes around quoting lines from a movie while he harasses people is an unredeemable dick head.

My GF's brother was pulled over for speeding here in Toronto. So if you're flying down a street that is a 30(kph) for example, and you're doing 60 you do have a real change of being pulled over. Beyond that I don't know how they can issue a ticket since bicycles don't require a license so technically you haven't signed any 'agreements' with the highway traffic act. *shrugs*. I thought it was rather funny myself.


;7885643']i smell bs as well.

You were on a freeway?

i smell bs

I am not sure how strict the traffic laws are there.

people have gotten tickets for speedboarding 50mph+...

if a cop told me i was on something I wasn't... i wouldn't have that... you should definitely file some kind of complaint...

I've only been stopped once, for running stop sign, which I did do. Cop gave me a "Warning Ticket" and lecture . . . then let me go.

Rick / OCRR

My brother's a cop...he's hassled me all my life.

Beyond that I don't know how they can issue a ticket since bicycles don't require a license so technically you haven't signed any 'agreements' with the highway traffic act. *shrugs*.

errr....

The only time I've been stopped by cops is when I've blown reds and I've always gotten away with a stern(ish) warning after doing the yes sir, no sir, three bags full sir thing.

Actually, I was pulled over two days ago.

The cop pulls in diagonally, blocking a lane of traffic on a busy two-lane street and says "You were going TOO FAST!"

Bemused, I gave her my info and she let me on my way. I think a ticket would have been great.

That sucks, man. Remember everybody: it's their job to arrest you or at least give you a ticket. Any time you walk away without either of those things happening consider yourself lucky.

So tonite I went out for a ride, nice little 5.3 miler to my buddies house, only downside is two large overpasses that dont have sidewalks to use, normally its low traffic at around 1030 (when I was riding) and I just power through them.

Now the second one is where I ran into a problem. There are 3 lanes of traffic, one of which is an off/onramp to a major freeway. As I come up the top I position myself outside of the onramp but to the rightmost of the second lane. I crest it and start down and a spotlight hits me, I slow to a stop and cop gets out starts talking to me.

This is where I slip up, not thinking I let my hand slip into my hoodie pocket, he calls it out and i take off the hoodie to keep it from happening again. Out of no where he decides to ask me how much crank (meth) Ive been smoking tonight. Administers a road side test and decides yup, Im spun like a top (stone cold sober). Said my eyes were fluttering or some BS. Then he drops the Training Day line "Do you want to o home or do you want to go to jail?" Thats when I knew it was over.

tl;dr Cliffs:
While biking ******* cop pulls me over and tells me Im high on meth
Takes me to jail and lets me sit in a cell for 6 hours on a bs charge
Released at 430 in the morning to get home

Were you on a freeway?
Most freeways are motorized vehicles only, and even then it is limited to vehicles with an engine over 499CC (in general).

Personally I would have told the cop that I'd like to be taken in and submitted to a blood or urine test. When i passed I would have then asked to speak to any of his superiors and filed a complaint. If they were not following with that then I would have requested a public defender and filed charges for being detained without cause and harassment.

Seriously, people grow some balls. Cops are people too and you can talk to them like you would any other person just don't swear or call him any derogatory names.

I was given a urine test,that I believe was meth specific, but I definitely have a fair amount of pot in my system (again, I was sober when the incident happened).

I am going to file a complaint the next time I am in the area (which is right next to the courthouse). If everything goes the way it should I should walk away free and clear. Then I can thumb my nose to the cop and make fun of his falling conviction rate.

EDIT: I wasnt on the freeway, but the road I was on had a lane dedicated to cars leaving and entering the freeway, as a lot of overpasses around here do. I did tell the cop what I thought of the meth accusation, and I think thats what ultimately let me to sleeping in jail last night, plus he just seemed like he was out to get someone.

That sucks, man. Remember everybody: it's their job to arrest you or at least give you a ticket. Any time you walk away without either of those things happening consider yourself lucky.

Yep. The cops are definitely out to get all of us. And they have GUNS!

Cops are like parents. You should not trust them and you should rebel against them whenever you are given the opportunity.

Yep. The cops are definitely out to get all of us. And they have GUNS!

Cops are like parents. You should not trust them and you should rebel against them whenever you are given the opportunity.

I completely agree with this. My college is full of criminal justice majors with small penis complexes.


I was given a urine test,that I believe was meth specific, but I definitely have a fair amount of pot in my system (again, I was sober when the incident happened).

I am going to file a complaint the next time I am in the area (which is right next to the courthouse). If everything goes the way it should I should walk away free and clear. Then I can thumb my nose to the cop and make fun of his falling conviction rate.

EDIT: I wasnt on the freeway, but the road I was on had a lane dedicated to cars leaving and entering the freeway, as a lot of overpasses around here do. I did tell the cop what I thought of the meth accusation, and I think thats what ultimately let me to sleeping in jail last night, plus he just seemed like he was out to get someone.

I would contact a public defender and see what other matters you can get yourself into. I mean if you weren't on a freeway and you were abiding by all posted traffic laws then this becomes a bike advocacy matter.

All I can say is **** the police, they have done nothing for me except pull me over for bull****.

Hmmm stopping you on your bike and bringing you in to give you a urine test doesnt sound right. I'm finding this hard to believe. 1)There wasn't probable cause for arrest and 2) I've never heard of a urine test given by police, only field sobriety tests for DUI.

Hmmm stopping you on your bike and bringing you in to give you a urine test doesnt sound right. I'm finding this hard to believe. 1)There wasn't probable cause for arrest and 2) I've never heard of a urine test given by police, only field sobriety tests for DUI.

Probable cause is so vague that a cop can pretty much make up anything to stop you. Example: you swerve to avoid broken glass in the road so you're obviously on meth, he stops you.

Also, in California, you used to be able to choose between doing breathalizer or a urine test, both on site, so they have the capability of doing so. They had to be done on site, otherwise, by the time they get you to a hospital etc...you're BAC has dropped. Nowadays, the only test they offer is a Breathalizer when it comes to alcohol.

Sucks about having to spend the night in jail. Take it to court, get him demoted to desk duty, and then go in and ask him to do some desk duty stuff for you. :thumb:

All I can say is **** the police, they have done nothing for me except pull me over for bull****.


LOL! This coming from a self described "Stoned Member".

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g76/ralphm2k/sucks_to_be_u.jpg

i got pulled over last week because the cop didn't think i had enough lights. even though i had a front and a back light that both are visible from the required distance. he said he'd seen three bicyclists get "smattered" in the last week and all the drivers said they didn't see the bicyclists they hit. he recommended i get one or two more rear lights.

sounds like they're pulling over the right person (the bicyclist) to me.

i got pulled over last week because the cop didn't think i had enough lights. even though i had a front and a back light that both are visible from the required distance. he said he'd seen three bicyclists get "smattered" in the last week and all the drivers said they didn't see the bicyclists they hit. he recommended i get one or two more rear lights.

sounds like they're pulling over the right person (the bicyclist) to me.

It's funny that how cops, realizing they made a mistake, lecture you anyhow to save face. Annoying.

what a dick

False charges can earn you some settlement money- worth pursuing IMO.

Just curios - what city/state was this in?

It's funny that how cops, realizing they made a mistake, lecture you anyhow to save face. Annoying.

It seems to me that the cop just pulled him over to tell him to be safe. I think that's a pretty valid, and actually a nice for a cop to do.

Some cops are going to be *******s. Filing complaints will not get you anywhere. Police force is a frat.

My brother just became a police officer. He's the one I trust. I don't expect anyone else to trust him.

It seems to me that the cop just pulled him over to tell him to be safe. I think that's a pretty valid, and actually a nice for a cop to do.

i understand that. and the cop wasn't a total jackass. but i was doing what i was supposed to be doing: riding safely and i was well lit. it's like telling a woman to watch her drink and wear conservative clothes and never go anywhere alone ever.

i am doing what i can to prevent my injury/death at the hands of an idiot driver, but what are the cops doing to stop the folks who are CAUSING the problems?

I actually rode by a cop the other day as i was pulling up to my house, he just got done ticketing a speeder and as i rode by he started tailing me up the block and then pulled into my drive behind me, I looked at him curiously and he pulled up next to me.
"that's an IRO, eh? I've never actually seen one in person, its pretty awesome"
...proceeds to chit chat with me for almost 20 minutes about bikes, i was caught completely off guard.
Its really weird I have had 3 interactions with cops since I moved to my new municipality about 10 months ago and all e have been positive... One was even bike related... I feel like I've found the twilight zone.

No one has asked the obvious question, were you riding with lights?

i have been blasted in the face[no ****] with pepper spray by the police at a insane house party. then at the ambulance another cop approches me and it turns out he is the brother of a friend. he 'vouches for my character' and i wasnt even arrested.
that **** hurts btw.

i've never had problems with cops on bikes(even after zipping by one stopped at a traffic light on my bike with no lights wasted i know it was stupid). I've been stopped by cops on my campus for bull**** at night(ive got a 4 inch beard and used to have shoulder length hair so i look "suspicious"), one that resulted in me getting a marijuana ticket and 9 months disciplanary probation with my school(get in any more trouble with the law before jan and i'm suspended). I work for the school's production department as a tech guy and while working graduation last year, I was being trailed by the OUPD whenever I walked around the building until my boss figured out the "shady looking character" the police were trailing was me.

I used to work in a gas station a few years back that was right in the middle of my town. Cops came in all the time and would just chat with us. I became close enough to the one that he would tell me how many officers would be on the road that night and what areas they'd be patrolling. They even knew I was stoned most of the time and just laughed about it. My friend I worked with got a warning when a cop who came in a lot pulled him over for going 15 over, running a red light, and admitting he was racing his friend. Knowing cops has its plus side, thats for sure.

Best of luck on your complaint. Sadly so, the cop's boss is going to say he was 'following procedure' and did nothing wrong, and not a darned thing will come of it. Don't let this stop you from filing a complaint, though.

Just be glad you were on a bike and not driving a car. I was pulled over years ago while stone sober, the cop got it in his head that I was high on marijuana, and proceeded to have my car towed, and I was arrested and taken to the station. The 'drug recognition expert' at the station determined that I was in fact NOT on any drugs whatsoever, and I was let go with no charges filed. However, I did have to spend almost $300 the next day to get my car out of the tow lot.

edit: If you were arrested for dui, even if no charges are filed, the arrest will show up each time you are pulled over, and the cops will hassle you about it.

F.T.P.

However, I did have to spend almost $300 the next day to get my car out of the tow lot.

What a scam.


i've never had problems with cops on bikes(even after zipping by one stopped at a traffic light on my bike with no lights wasted i know it was stupid). I've been stopped by cops on my campus for bull**** at night(ive got a 4 inch beard and used to have shoulder length hair so i look "suspicious"), one that resulted in me getting a marijuana ticket and 9 months disciplanary probation with my school(get in any more trouble with the law before jan and i'm suspended). I work for the school's production department as a tech guy and while working graduation last year, I was being trailed by the OUPD whenever I walked around the building until my boss figured out the "shady looking character" the police were trailing was me.

I used to work in a gas station a few years back that was right in the middle of my town. Cops came in all the time and would just chat with us. I became close enough to the one that he would tell me how many officers would be on the road that night and what areas they'd be patrolling. They even knew I was stoned most of the time and just laughed about it. My friend I worked with got a warning when a cop who came in a lot pulled him over for going 15 over, running a red light, and admitting he was racing his friend. Knowing cops has its plus side, thats for sure.

I'm not sure if you mean for this story to humanize cops, but stories like this make cops look like even bigger sleazebags.

[QUOTE=pirate;7889067]What a scam.



[QUOTE]
For sure. Most of the money went to the tow company, but I had to pay $75 to the police department for them to tell the tow company that they have permission to give my vehicle back to me.

I'm not sure if you mean for this story to humanize cops, but stories like this make cops look like even bigger sleazebags.

Hmm, now that i think of it it can be taken either way. I'm not even sure how i view them based on that.

It seems to me that the cop just pulled him over to tell him to be safe. I think that's a pretty valid, and actually a nice for a cop to do.

Uh, from what the posted stated, he was responsibly riding his bike, and this cop stopped him because he *thought* the cyclist didn't have lights. But he did have lights. And instead of the cop saying "Oh, sorry, I didn't see them," he starts to lecture the cyclist about safe bike riding? Nevermind the fact that the cyclist DID have proper safety equipment. Nevermind the fact that the cyclist wasn't breaking any traffic laws. Nevermind the fact that a traffic crime about 10 orders of magnitude worse was occurring somewhere else (assuming this was in a large urban area).

Cops waste too much time lecturing cyclists, issuing tickets to cyclists going through a reds at deserted intersections, in general being mommy, and not enough time ripping up the licenses of dangerous drivers.

i get stopped fairly routinly as i ride around at night, and there is alot of trouble caused by pikey kids on bmx's in my area. kids on bikes are the local polices pet hate. by assosciation they assume that i must be up to trouble if i too am on a bike.

often i am stoned or a bit drunk, but i normally get away with it once they talk to me, as i have a ****ing nice bike, in my 20s, and dress really sharp, which is the total opposit of the idiot kids on bmx's that they usually encounter.

occasionally ill be crusing and a group of said kids on bmx's will try to cause trouble, but i just make them look stupid by completely speed dropping them.

and dress really sharp

oh do you?

oh do you?

Normally it would be ridiculous to mention that you dress nice ... but in the context of this thread, I think it's relevant. It is patently obvious that cops will treat you differently depending on how you dress and how you are groomed.

Everybody hates cops until they need them.

Bicycle cops often have killer rides. I want a cop bike.

I've done some stupid **** on the road in front of police before (not knowingly, they were just in the oncoming traffic at a light I just blew through - that kind of thing) but never been pulled over.

I think it does have a lot to do with how you're handling yourself and how you look - I probably look like a nutbar cyclist, so they figure I know what I'm upto and not causing any problems.

The odd time there've been accidents or like last night, electricity and phone wires and miscellaneous vehicle parts strewn all over the road I've had to talk to police, sober or not, and asked them if I can go on the sidewalk or how to get around the problem quicker than their detour - I'm always very polite, always do the "yes sir, no sir" game and had no trouble. The only time I had a guy start to get in my face was when I was asking him why the police were ticketing for running reds at Critical Mass that month, when the previous month they corked for us - he got pretty uppity at that, I left it alone after we were all bunched as "*******s". I waited for him to finish writing my buddy a failure to stop ticket before asking... as I went through the same light as my buddy right beside him :)

Instead of everyone crying about the cops, why don't you try stepping in their shoes for a couple of hours...go on a ride along and see how bizarre it is. Someone told me to do that after I was *****ing about them like you all are. Its a completely different world from inside their car. Empathy is a good thing.

i was washing my bike at a fire hydrant and now i got a summons and have to go to criminal court,from what info i could get on the internet i could be facing a $1000 fine or 30 days in jail or both : ( here in NYC.

I was pulled over on a two way semi busy street a month or less ago for riding in the street. I was the opposite of "yes massa..." and was a complete jackass to the cop because of obvious reasons. He let me go with a "warning" and told me to stay off the road as I rode off, in the street of course.

By no means am I trying to sound badass or show off, it isn't even impressive. I'm just sharing my recent run in with the police.

i was washing my bike at a fire hydrant and now i got a summons and have to go to criminal court,from what info i could get on the internet i could be facing a $1000 fine or 30 days in jail or both : ( here in NYC.

On what charge(s)?