BikeMomTn

I have contacted League of American Bicyclists because realistically I cannot afford an attorney. The police know this because I live in a government subsidized housing community. I am far from being under educated or stupid however. I am a 41 year old woman of 5 kids, earning my B.A. in Public relations and Speech Communication. This being said - The Major I have been communicating with is informing me that the officer is waiting to hear from a child protective services worker who was out here last year on an unrelated issue, that I asked regarding rules/regulations for my daughter riding her bike to school. (she was riding her bike at this point in time so I felt it was an opportune time to ask, since I was relatively sure the complaint was made to get cps involved because of her riding to school...the complaint was she went to school in dirty and torn clothing) I am 99.99% sure the officer will not receive any information regarding the case last year without a court order requiring it.

I have seen a copy of the complaints received by the police department which include:

A young child is riding their bike to school and I'm afraid they will get hurt
A child is riding on Cedar Avenue and causing traffic issues as cards maneuver around her

I am intelligently aware of the risks my daughter takes every time she goes outside. She could be hit by a car, abducted, shot, stabbed ***** walking to the bus stop JUST as easy as she could riding her bike to school (the bus stop is about 3/4 block away). These same instances could happen when she goes out to play. However, the point the police are attempting to stand upon is the supervision aspect of it. Please show me a parent of a 10 year old who does NOT allow them to go outside to play. However when I ask what the difference is, they say well she's a MILE away. When I ask about the kids who walk home they inform me these children live closer..uhm ok...so once again I'm back at a dead end.

As I said I have contacted League of American Cyclists (legal aid just gave me the run around and refused to assist me) and I am praying they are able to assist me with this. The gal I spoke to was completely blown away by this. I am still debating on the media somewhat waiting to see what happens and I have NO clue how to bring it to the attention of the media. Or if the media would even care.

I appreciate everyone's support, its really helping me a great deal with this because right now I feel like I'm trying to climb a icy mountain and y'all are my safety rope (bad analogy I guess).

I did find a cycle friendly attorney, but ofc money will prevent me from retaining him but I am hoping for some helping advice from him at least.

And it IS a cycling issue they are using the unsupervised time as an excuse to avoid the cycle legality situation