1nterceptor

"Gregory Phillips was given a ticket for riding his bicycle on the sidewalk on Sullivant Avenue after police arrested him, thinking he was a suspected ******. The only reason he was on the sidewalk, Phillips said, was to make way for police. "

Read the full article:
https://www.dispatch.com/content/stor...him.html#print

PedalingFool

Looks like the bad word filters made your link fubar...

https://tinyurl.com/8fwghrm

GraysonPeddie

Man, how sad can that be? I'd get the heck out of the city if I were Phillips and not see the police officers again for not apologizing to him.

RaleighSport

4 inches.. 30lbs.. and a 3 ID's.. I really don't see why he was detained as long as he was, and especially not without an apology. Similar description fine, stop him identify him, release him! Don't waste time.

Keith99

Lets see. Crusier pulls up in front of him blocking the street and he then shifts to riding on the side walk.

Does anyone else see something there? As in it looks like he is trying to evade the police.

One huge problem in police encounters is the police are thinking they are dealing with a criminal and any innocent person they meet is thinking they are innocent and that the police should somehow know that.

Something I try to remember.

RaleighSport

hmm too bad none of us were there, but my feeling was he simply hopped up on the sidewalk and didn't increase pace or try to turn off...

PedalingFool

About 15 years ago my brother was using a pay phone in a Rite-Aid parking lot... someone robbed a liquor store right down the street and the cops came up to my brother pulled their guns on him and made him drop the phone. Thankfully they didn't shoot him for having a deadly weapon in his hand...

Digital_Cowboy

The only question I have, is after transitioning onto the sidewalk to move out of the way of the police did he stop, or did he continue to ride? Either way, once the police determined that the cyclist WASN'T the person that they were looking for, and that the only reason he was on the sidewalk was to make way for the police.

They should have apologized, and let him go. This is the very WORSE kind of PR for any police department.

jerseyJim

I understand the stop and I understand the handcuffing and I even understand taking ten minutes to make absolutely sure they are not letting a dangerous criminal go.

I do not understand the ticket for riding on the sidewalk. That's ridiculous. Any bicyclist is going to go wherever they need to go to avoid motor vehicles bearing down on them. That's just cops being D-heads.

unterhausen

looks to me that sidewalk riding is legal in Ohio.

ckaspar

He wasn't using a cell phone while driving.

rubic

The real reason that Phillips got a ticket was that the cops wasted time with the wrong suspect. They had to show productivity to their supervisors or else they would have received "counseling" for non-productivity. Cops are just wage slaves like the rest of us. By ticketing Phillips, they justified their time. Yeah, "Protect and Serve". The blue shield of 'save my job'.

thplmn72

The expecting an apology is funny there cops they think there above the law not here to uphold it !!!!

PedalingFool

Notice that none of the cop cars have that on them anymore... not anywhere that I've seen anyways.
Now they should have "You Must Obey and Give Us Your Money!"

thplmn72

"You Must Obey and Give Us Your Money!"
then they would be in line with the rest of there governmental counter parts

rubic

Sort of like de facto tax collectors. "Oh, we're short of money this month. Write some extra traffic tickets so we can make payroll".

Greyryder

Article reads like after figuring out they had the wrong guy, the cops were looking for any reason they could find to justify stopping the guy.

No state wide law. A lot of cities do have laws against sidewalk riding in business districts. From what I understand, Columbus does have a city wide ban on it.

CB HI

Come on guys, the cops logic makes perfect sense. They are out looking for a ******, see a cyclist and figure it must be the bad guy, so they stop him. Realizing it is the wrong guy at the point of the second ID card, time to find anything they can nail bad boy cyclist on, rather than getting back to finding the ******.

Nailing a cyclist on any cheap BS is certainly more important than arresting a ******.

Keith99

If the article is at all accurate the police blocked hte street and he then went to the sidewalk.

From the cops standpoint that is likely someone trying to evade them.

From a reasonable persons standpoint it is jsut trying to go on home.

I do not see how it fits making way for the police. If they were behind him I can see how someone could reasonably think he was making way.

SlowNeasy

Could be they were trying to 'cover their @_$' by writting a citation after lawfully detainging him. A brief "Sorry sir ,you're not the guy we're looking for , sorry for the bother have a nice day". I've seen this after a bank robbery and they fit the vehicle/occupant description, guns drawn , down on ground. Just a brief apology , NO made up charges for sure. They were glad to be let go.
My only question would be , Is it unlawfull to ride a bicycle on the sidwalk there ? If it was unlawful then the ticket was lawful, if not , what kind of charge did they use?

Dave.