Wednesday, April 20, 2011
News Robin Williams Dodges Ticket for Sidewalk Cycling
Posted by Benjamin Sutton on Wed, Apr 20, 2011 at 3:55 PM
While other New York City cyclists are getting tickets for made-up laws, Robin Williams is riding around town with impunity (despite getting more than his share of NYPD attention).
A few weeks ago Williams—currently starring in Broadway's Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo—told the New Yorker about getting stopped along the Hudson River Park bike lane, and yesterday on The View—as reported in the Post—he revealed how he dodged a ticket for riding on a deserted sidewalk.
He was cycling towards a bike lane on a sidewalk when he heard a siren and bullhorn telling him to "pull over!"—confusing, since he was already on the sidewalk. He told the View ladies that the encounter may have had more to do with his appearance than the traffic law violation:
I wasn't dressed, like, in bike clothing... I had a single-speed track bike, and I had on a balaclava, which basically makes me look like a terrorist or a crack dealer.
That's right: the exact same balaclava that precipitated the encounter alluded to in the New Yorker! To be fair, Williams looks pretty shady in an accompanying photo—nice bike though!
The exchange went differently from most cop-cyclist encounters: "They say, 'Hey, Mr. Williams, how are you?' And, 'Mork!'" Then, making shit up again, the cops told him: "There's a new law. Look, we won't give you a ticket this time." Of course, not riding on the sidewalk is probably one of the oldest bike laws, and carries a hefty $100 fine for most of us.
Here is where I'd try to close with a Robin Williams movie pun, but it couldn't possibly be better than the Post's: "The above-the-law actor—now starring on Broadway as the Tiger in "Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo"—was not goodwill hunting."
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