Made me sick to my stomach. Had a similar situation in my youth where a beat cop tried to confiscate my bike. Abuse of power is right on the money.

That being said the pedestrian w/t comments should've just kept on walking w/o saying a word to the cyclist. Cyclist had been stopped by the cops. He and they were in conversation and pedestrian dude kept interrupting to get in the last dig. That distracted the situation and he was interferring w/a legal process as ridiculous as it all looks. The cop was correct in going after the guy to isssue a summons. The mistake the guy made was continuing to talk to the cop as if he had the upper hand. He pricked the guys ego and at that point the cop wasn't going to let him just walk away w/o a ticket.

When dealing w/law enforcement people it's always best to surrender completely and give them total control. Their training is to never allow an 'actor' to assume power in a given situation. That's why they make people sit down or lay on their stomachs, etc. The sad thing is the Ped may have squawked himself into a resisting arrest charge too as he failed to give the cop his ID at first.

That confrontation could've blown up into a full-scale riot very easily and demonstrates the heightened contention that exists between normally lawfull citizens and the PD in Anytown, USA.