How Not To Serve And Protect

I have been involved in incidents with people in cars (incidents of the “hit you with my car/almost hit you with my car” variety) four times that have occurred directly in front of police officers.  Twice in Cambridge, and twice in Boston.

Here they are in order of “best” to “fuck the police”

Best

Lets start with the best one.  I was riding down Hampshire street in Cambridge, and a man in his car tried to force me off the road so that he could make an illegal turn.  I was in the bike lane, and there was heavy traffic.  There was a cop car on the side of the road, I tapped on the glass, told the officers what happened, they assured me they would take care of it. They walked over and started talking to the guy, told him to be careful, and said the he could have hurt someone.  That was all I wanted, them to give him a verbal warning, make it understood that bikes have a legal right to use the road (and the god damn bike lane) and that he needs to be more careful.  The officers were polite, took my story at face value, and responded in a measured and swift way.  Thank you officers, you made me feel safe, and you informed an asshole motorist that they needed to be more careful.

Meh

Next up was the time I got hit by a car in Harvard square.  The man in his car had run the red light, and when he saw me he panicked, and hit the gas instead of the brake. His car went from 3mph to about 20mph in the space of ten feet and rabbit punched the front of my bicycle.  I was thrown from my bike and landed on my hands and knees, breaking both wrists at the same time.  This incident occurred in front of not one, but 4 Cambridge police officers.  Not one of which who was actually looking at the intersection.  The report showed that not one officer had witnessed the incident…the incident that happened 5 feet in front of their faces.  My bike was totaled, and my hands hurt for months.  This could have been a coincident, they might have all been really interested in a birdy, or perhaps it was just bad luck.  I didn’t think it was some sort of conspiracy, I was just really mad that police set to watch the intersection, were not watching the intersection.

Are you fucking kidding me?!

This incident occurred today.  I was riding though Chinatown when a man in a silver prius changed lanes without looking (I was right next to him at the time).  I managed to avoid him, but he then proceeded to drive at me aggressively while honking and swearing.  His logic went something like this “You need to be more careful because I nearly killed you when I changed lanes without looking to see if any vehicle was next to me, and now I am going to try to hit you with my car while honking at you to reenforce that point.”  I of course found his logic to be lacking.  Lucky for me there was a cop right on the corner…not only had the officer failed to notice the symphony of honking (he was talking to a construction worker), his reaction was less than helpful.  When I approached him I said “excuse my officer, that man in the silver prius just tried to run me over, and is now honking and swearing at me, while trying to hit me with his car.” 

His response was “you gonna file a report, you gonna go to court?  I aint gonna do the work unless you are serious about going to court.”  It was clear he didn’t want to issue a ticket, talk to the driver, or in anyway do anything.  I continued in vain to explain to him that “that guy, RIGHT THERE” just tried to kill me, and that he should do something about it.  He continued to make it clear that “fuck you kid, you are not hurt I aint doing shit.”  Those words were not used, but the sentiment was clear.  He continued to stonewall me until the driver had driven off and I could no longer figure out what car he was in.

At no point did he ask if I was hurt, what the driver looked like, or any details about the incident. He was just very clear that unless I was “ready to go to court” I shouldn’t bother him.

Fuck the police!

This incident happened in the middle of the night.  I was returning to my home (in Dorchester at the time), and was nearly run over by a guy in a black BMW.  I was wearing a helmet, reflective strips on my bag, lights on my bike, and was riding to the right in a straight line.  The man in the BMW not only tried to run me over, but after nearly missing me continued to swerve dangerously while honking.  It was clearly a road rage type thing where he was pissed I was “in his way” even though we were the only two vehicles on the street, and he had not one but two lanes free next to me.  Eventually his aggressive driving became such that at a red light I feared he would actually strike me with his car, I pulled my u-lock out of my pocket and readied myself for battle.  It was at this point that the cop in the car on the corner (who had been watching the entire incident), decided to get out of his car and make his presence known.  He informed me that he would charge me with assault, that I was to give him my license, and that the driver was free to go.  He told me he had seen the entire thing, and that I had acted irresponsibly by riding my bike in the street at such a late hour.  When I tried to explain myself, he informed me that if I said another word he would arrest me.  He also informed me that unless I “showed him more respect” he would arrest me. I was forced to “Yes Sir” him for the remainder of the interrogation. Basically he would say “Have you been drinking” and I would say “No sir.” Etc etc. I was let go with no action taken against me, the driver was never questioned.

These four incidents have led me to several conclusions  The cops in Cambridge have much better training for how to deal with cyclist related issues than the cops in Boston do.  Cops posted at construction zones are not effective, and are almost never actually watching the traffic.  Many cops seem to care less about the “little” problems.  This last one is probably the most detrimental. Because these incidents were not murders, and because “no one was hurt” the cops seemed to think it wasn’t important.

All I wanted was for the police to tell the motorist “You are not allowed to threaten cyclists.”  That’s it!  No ticket, no arrest, simply a verbal warning from a person in a position of power.  Instead I am met with stone wall “not my job” attitudes, or threats against me for daring to protect myself from speeding piles of metal, piloted by possibly drunk and belligerent assholes.

This post is not to say that all officers are horrible, in fact the officers in the first two incidents did their best to help. But its clear that training could be better, and that some officers are shirking their duty, or are heavily biased against cyclists. These sort of attitudes change over time, and in light of recent fatal incidents I think its once again time to reexamine the types of training (if any) that police officers are given for how they interact with cyclists.

If you are an officer and you are reading this here are some suggestions:

• Take cyclists seriously
• Talk to both parties
• Most drivers have no idea how dangerous they are behaving
• Pay attention to the traffic, not the big dirt moving machines
• Most of the time warnings are sufficient, most cyclists just want you to remind drivers to be careful
• People rely on you to protect them, don’t forget why you took this job

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Bike Cop Doored In JP

Two Boston Police officers on bikes collided in Jamaica Plain after one crashed into an open car door on Centre Street.

The crash happened at around 12:30 p.m. when the first officer hit the door. The other officer, riding behind him, crashed into the first officer.

Both suffered minor injuries.

Read more

I wonder if this means they will start a better appreciation among the cops for this sort of danger, and encourage them to ticket motorists more for this behavior. To add insult to injury got him right on a sharrow…pay attention motorists!

PS. It is illegal in MA to open your door if ANY traffic is approaching (car/pedestrian/cyclist). You can be given a ticket right there on the spot…if the cop chooses to.

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Thats What I Get For Being Helpful Or The Clothes Make The Cyclist

I was riding my bike through Harvard SQ yesterday (I just happen to be wearing nice cloths, cause sometimes I like to be classy), and while stopped at a red light the following scene happened.

Cope standing on the corner.

Lady with kids walks up: “Excuse me officer. Do you know where Ben and Jerry’s is?”

Cop has no idea, calls to other cop, other cop can’t hear him, this happens several times, finally I get tired of watching and say

Me: “There is a Ben and Jerry’s in the garage” points “And there is a JP licks down there” points “And a pink berry over there” points again.

Lady: “Thank you so much!”

She walks off with her kids, to enjoy some ice cream

Cop: “You know your ice cream huh?”

Me: “ha ha yea I do, you got to know where you can refuel after a long ride.”

At this point the whole thing was some serious Mayberry non-Bostonian friendliness shit, not the kind of thing you see every day. I think the cop must have realized that we were all being way too nice to each other so he then says to his buddy.

Cop: “See he isn’t one of those annoying cyclists that wear all those stupid clothes…”

WHAT!?!

Me: *in my head* “See you aren’t one of those fat lazy cops that act like dicks”

Me: *out loud* *nervous laughter* “Yea I try to wear whats practical.”

I then rode off, but seriously why would you say something like that? I think he was trying to be nice, but it displayed a serious lack of respect for a whole class of road users. For all I know this guy felt the same way about pedestrians and car drivers as well…but his utter lack of respect made me feel a little wtf for the rest of my ride.

It also opens up a whole can of interesting worms for how people feel about cyclists based on how they are dressed. I was in nice clothes, and I was “good.” The spandex roadies were “annoying” and I would bet if I had been on my fixy in cut offs I would have been “dangerous.”

We clearly still have a lot of hearts and minds to win over to the cycling cause. My ultimate goal would be to have cycling be as “boring” as any other mode of transport. By this I mean I want cycling to be seen as just as valid, useful, and normal as walking/driving/taking the train. Till then watch out for the cops in Harvard Square if you are in full kit.

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Cop Knocks Over Ctitical Mass Rider In Central Square?

Is this going to be another incident like the one in New York? (to be clear I wasn’t at this ride, and am getting this all second hand, all parties innocent till proven etc etc.) This all went down Friday Aug 27th sometimes around 6 or 7 pm in central square.

From the BCM mailing list

A bicyclist by the name of *name removed* was assaulted by a Cambridge police officer, Raymond Pina, Badge CPD 567, in almost the exact same manner as the infamous NYC Critical Mass incident. Unfortunately, we do not currently know of anyone who caught it on film, so please spread the word and hopefully we can find someone who managed to record it. We have film of the aftermath, we have about seven eye witnesses, and hopefully we can take advantage of any nearby surveillance cameras (one of which we saw looked to be aimed directly down at the intersection near the incident). We plan to call the ACLU for legal advice as well.

For those of you who were not there to witness it, Pina was in the middle of the road, trying to knock over passing cyclists who were all doing their best to avoid him. After a few failed attempts, Pina lunged towards *name removed*, grabbed him, and threw him to the ground. *name removed* was in the bike lane, had not personally been in the way of any traffic, and had not even reached the intersection and could not have run the red light. The ticket was filed for either “Bicycle operating to endanger” or “Bicycle leaving the scene of an accident” but there were no nearby pedestrians, and *name removed* along with all other bicyclists did their best to avoid contact with the officer. There was a clear effort to attack one of the passing cyclists.

Please stand by while we wait for the court date, and please ask around for anyone who might possibly have the incident on video. It is also up to the cyclist to decide where he wants to take this. We will send another update when what video we have goes online.

In case you forgot here is the video from the New York incident that got this cop in trouble (although he was later not given any punishment, the cyclist did get 65,000 in cash from the city).

anybody get video or more info on the incident in Cambridge?

EDIT:more from the mailing list…this is from the cyclist that got tackled.

Hi Everybody- Sorry for the delayed response, but I have been spending some time getting my thoughts together about the incident during the ride. I would like to be completely upfront about the events that occurred, and I would appreciate any advice you would like to offer.I was riding down Mass ave in the bike lane, about 30 feet before the Central Square intersection. As I understand it, other riders were blocking the intersection; I do not know whether the light was green or red. Officer Pina was standing in the roadway, yelling at passing cyclists to stop and lunging back and forth as people passed him. I was unable to dodge his lunges, and he tackled me to the ground. Fortunately I was wearing a helmet.

I sustained two minor superficial injuries to my right arm and leg.Following the tackle, he yelled at me to get on to the sidewalk and asked why I did not stop. I was shaken up from the incident and decided not to answer. Officer Pina called for backup and I had no further interactions with any of the officers until he handed me a $20 ticket, presumably for “Operating to Endanger” (though the ticket is poorly filled out and vague).

Other issues with the ticket include:
The address indicates that the incident occurred right in the intersection, when it in fact occurred well before it.
My old address is listed, as he failed to note my updated address on the back of my license.
The officer neglected to have me sign the ticket acknowledging receipt.
Needless to say, I will be appealing the ticket.

I spoke briefly with Sgt. Joe Keough who said he was unable to comment as he was not there. He said I should appeal the ticket. I would like to thank Dave and the guy with the video camera (sorry, I forgot your name) as well as the other cyclists who stopped. Your support went a long way, and I believe it strongly influenced the Sgt. as well as the other officers to de-escalate the situation away from an arrest.

As for further actions, I am conflicted: On the one hand, I have only been cycling regularly for 3 months, and this was my first Critical Mass ride. While I believe that both Boston and Cambridge would benefit from more bike lanes, I am not overly passionate about this cause. Further, I have no desire for the publicity this would involve
specifically because I am in the process of applying to Medical Schools, and I worry that a Google search of my name could scare off admissions committees. Lastly, I know in my heart that I made the decision to avoid the officer rather than coming to a stop as he had requested. On the other hand, this officer had no reason to stop me in the first place: I was operating my bicycle appropriately. Further, throwing me to the ground could have caused serious injuries.

As for further actions, I will be appealing the ticket. I have called the Cambridge Police Department, and I was told I should be able to pickup a copy of the officer’s report from the Records Department on Monday. I have not decided whether I want to file a complaint, but I am pretty sure any attempt at a lawsuit would be a waste of time and money. Even if I did file a complaint, I would be faced with the fact that the officer demanded I stop and I failed to do so. Even though the stop was unmerited, this will still reflect poorly on me and the officer’s actions may be deemed justified. This single fact may make the difference between yesterday and the NYC incident.

Another option would be some sort of negotiation with CPD. I think the other other officers realized that Pina made a very bad decision to do what he did, and I think that a threat of a complaint may be a good negotiating tool. Are there any concessions we should ask for from the city/PD that would benefit cyclists? Does anybody have any contacts in the Cambridge government or PD? Know any lawyers who could offer advice?

I have written this email as honestly as I could, and I know parts of it are selfish but that is the situation as I see it. I look forward to your responses.

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Busted!

Look who BUBikes caught parking in the bike lane…naughty naughty BUPD7 Car 597.

If you see someone (especially someone who knows better like the cops) parked in a bike lane, send in the pictures we can publicly shame them!

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