Tuesday, January 11, 2011
News NYPD's Increased Bike Law Enforcement Going as Badly as Everyone Expected
Posted by Benjamin Sutton on Tue, Jan 11, 2011 at 9:41 AM
A fellow named Greg wrote his story to StreetsBlog yesterday, beginning with the ticket he receives for turning into the Central Park loop on a red light around 1pm on Saturday, and continues thusly:
Unfortunately, this was not the end of my encounter with NYPD. After riding about a mile in Central Park a police SUV parked at an on-ramp on the UWS started to follow me. It was obvious I was being stalked. Worried they were searching for any infraction I stopped riding and got off my bike. The police car turned on its lights and parked about 50 yards behind me waiting for me to resume riding. It was freezing cold so I had to get back on and try to make it home. The car continued to follow me.
Greg only gets the one ticket, but it's exactly the type of pointless, negative enforcement that's not going to make cyclists who ride dangerously respect any more traffic laws, and may in fact dissuade respectful riders from cycling at all.
And then there's the much scarier story that user "galochka" posted in response to our original post about increased enforcement, about an encounter she had with NYPD officers in Williamsburg that very day.
On Wed. January 5th I was stopped riding my bicycle on Grand and Roebling without Back reflector and headlight. In panic and outrage at a ticket for laws I haven't heard about, I made a mistake to continue riding. Police car hit my bike into the snow. At that point, I took out my wallet and offered an id. Police officer screamed "now you are going to jail." Without Any other explanation, he twisted my arm to the point of pain. I started screaming, trying To call attention to the violance. However, I did not fight back or run, just tried to resist My arm being broken. More policemen twisted both of my arms and pushed me on the Ground, face down into the garbage bags. At that point I realized they wanted my hands for Handcuffs behind my back. However I was never told that and had no idea how handcuffs operate, Having never been handcuffed in my live. After this, I was taken to the precinct and spend 24 Hours in jail. Jail had 15 women in about 15 by 20 room with floor space for 10 matts, an open toilet, no soap, dirty floors and matts that were not disinfected and dirty, cockroaches, mice, and rats. There was a sign on the wall "soap avaialable upon request." However, upon request, the guard said that there is no soap and the sign was just put up for inspection.I was released on a half a year Hold, found not guilty and given one day of community service I don't exactly know why. To complete The picture of the police actions against me, I would like to add that I am a 33 year old woman, 5.1 in height, who has never been arrested before. After this I am not so sure about ride safely....
Counterproductive, quota-filling and unjust enforcement aside, it's probably time to brush up on those bike traffic laws, and maybe the DOT will start handing out lights again. And watch out for bored, angry cops roving Central Park in packs, looking for cyclists to ticket.
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