thrllskr

I was commuting to work at 5 am this morning had a horrible experience with a police officer. I ride down a side street that has 2 full lanes and 2 full bike lanes on a two way street. On this street they have one of those radar signs that checks speeds and I noticed I was cruizing along at 21 mph (the speed limit is 30). As I am passing the sign it starts flashing red and displays "Slow Down." I know a car is approaching behind me at a high rate of speed. This cop car comes flying by me and there was not 3 feet between his car and me, I was almost in the gutter (far right side of the bike lane). I keep riding along and I see him stopped at the red light that I am approaching, I slow down a bit and hope I can time it to hit the green and not have to stop. So the cop, makes a right hand turn in front of me, with no signal blinker and cuts me off (yes I have one blinking headlight and another 800 lumen light running). Keep reading, it gets better.

I am heading down the same street, about the same speed of 19-21 mph, and I see a fast moving car approaching from the side street (intersection and the car is coming from my right) and I am thinking "this car is not going to stop." I slow down before the intersection, to which I have a green light, and it appears the approaching car is slowing down to stop, so I proceed through the intersection. Watching the car on the right I see that he is not going to stop and I swerve to the opposite side of the road to avoid getting hit by the car that didn't stop. This cop made a right turn onto the road I was riding on and I pull up beside him on my bicycle briefly as I am moving back to the right side of the road and to the bike lane. I can clearly see the cop is on his cell phone and he does not even see me on the left side of the car going to same direction as him. He speeds off and make notice of his patrol car number. Ohhh, there is more.

About a mile away in downtown I am riding in a barricaded bike lane (bike lane on busy street street downtown that has a barrier to prevent cars from entering) and I see the same patrol car taking up the entire bike lane in front of me at the coffee shop. I have to stop on my bike, get up the curb and onto the sidewalk and I peer in and see the cop paying for his coffee. I back up, move into the bike lane behind the patrol car, get my cell phone out and begin to take a picture of the scene. Of course, perfect timing the cop walks out and notices what I am doing.

I put my phone away, hop onto the sidewalk and ride away. I am riding down the bike lane again and the bicycle light is green so I go through the intersection (the automobile light is red but the bike light is green) and I hear and see cop lights behind me. I keep riding and the cop gets on his speaker and says, "you on the bicycle, pull over." So I stop and the he begins his routine. He approaches me and asks me for an ID and I am ask him what I did." He keeps demanding and ID/Drivers License. I keep asking him what I did. He eventually responds that I ran a red light. I lost my cool at this point. I gave him a mouth full of him speeding, almost hitting me, parking in the bike lane for coffee, and he doesn't even know there are bicycle red/green lights. I ended with a string of names and rode off. He didn't follow me and left me alone. I think it is time to get a video recorder for my morning commutes. This experience was just horrible.

RPK79

This story could have used more paragraphs, but I struggled through it. I guess if they left you alone after that they must have realized they were in the wrong.

ill.clyde

I'd email that photo to the city ... NOT the police department, but maybe the mayor's office. OR ... post it on Instagram with hashtags for the city, police department, etc.

Had a similar, albeit less scary, situation the other day, playing leapfrog with a transit bus. Apparently he didn't like it and parked himself in the bike lane at an intersection, even though he was going straight and not turning right. I didn't think about taking a picture until after the fact, but my plan was to take the pic and then post to instagram/facebook with the appropriate hash tags.

RPK79

Buses around here do that often since those are also bus stops.

ill.clyde

True ... but this one wasn't

thrllskr

Great idea with hastags on instagram.

skins_brew

+1 on facebook. If you want to get something accomplished with local gov, facebook is a great way. Twitter too I guess, but I don't dabble in that. I have had a few issues with the state and local goverments regarding sidewalks and right of ways. Emailing and online complaint forms did nothing. Action immediately came when I blast their facebook page with a video of the dangerous situation.

ill.clyde

I actually did this with an issue on our bike path. The park district was doing some work on an adjacent hillside, which required the park district to close the path from time to time. However, when they closed it there was never any advance warning or signage that would urge the path users to find an alternate route.

Then, a section that had needed work since last year was finally getting fixed, but again, no warning whatsoever. You didn't know the path was closed until you were on it, which meant either backtracking (no way) or gingerly picking your way through on the bike, or walking through, the section in question.

So I took a photo, and actually tagged the photo with our local park district's instagram account.

Next day, there were signs noting the closure, WELL in advance.

ill.clyde

Exactly ... social media is very useful in situations like this.

noglider 

I think @RPK79 is right. Try to let this go and forget about it.

acidfast7

The appropriate course of action would have been to ghost ride the bike into the rear of the cop car and break the tail light.

Then take a photo of the car in the bike lane.

john4789

I'm glad you survived the ordeal.

Eds0123

great idea, ...

thrllskr

I posted on twitter and instagram. Got a message from the cop shop asking for more details. Social media suggestion +1

RPK79

Thanks. It was tough.

ill.clyde

Very cool

Mvcrash

I love cop stories. Be careful, if you bump into a smart cop.........it won't have the same ending.

mconlonx

A smart cop is not the subject of this thread...

Astrozombie

Baahhhhhhhhhh should have kept your cool and just smiled! Then bring the pain and report his ass when he isn't expecting it!! I've heard plenty of stories of piggies trying to take peoples phones when they see you catching them doing something questionable. (Let's ignore the recent segment on the daily show about cops taking peoples money cause that one made me blow a fuse)

^ Or just a jerk who would use the guy going off on him as an excuse to take down a "hostile" person....for being "disorderly" and "obstructing justice"

thrllskr

Because of this ridiculous incident I ordered a GoPro Silver and helmet mount last night. Soon I will be sitting down watching clips of the idiots, morons, and sub-humans that endanger everyone on the rode. I can't wait.

Mvcrash

Obviously, by the cops reaction he was not smart. My point was that if he was, the ending could have been much different.

TransitBiker

Every now and again i stop in dunkin donuts at 2-4 am, usually going to grocery store but sometimes just to do some errands & relax with 100x less cars out. Some of these times, more often than not as of late, there are2-5 cops at said location, just shootin the breeze. They seem like nice enough guys & more than once local PD have been there when someone in motor vehicle was way out of line & endangered me. They are people too & no one is perfect. I say less hostile/confrontational interactions are in order. Being kind to others is more important than you realize. Same with errant cyclists clearly "doing it wrong". Kindness is key.

- Andy

mconlonx

My point is that if the cop was smart, there would be no story to post on BF...