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its so weird that in this society we have these "officers" of law enforcement, essentially practicing law without a law degree. This cops attitude changed after learning he was being video taped. Too bad this "officer" didnt recognize that california state law is based on "the spirit of the law", not "the letter of the law". Last but not least, this "officer" was tripping on the bicyclist for impeding traffic, whilst him and this three buddies in police cars were doing a far more effective job of impeding traffic for the 15 mins of this tape.
I don't know how many people here who actually ride in the LBC...but they are NOT bike friendly. When there's huge events where LBC's rep is on the line, the police seem to look the other way and play the role of being rider friendly. But when you try to do a group ride (much less Critical Mass or back when Sins & Sprockets did a ride in the LBC) we had some interactions with the police.
I can see why cops get upset with riders. I'm from Long Beach too. I've never been harrassed by the police. This guy has a point but about halfway through his mouth keeps running and he stops thinking. It turns into bravado. Even his girl and friend are trying to tell him to shut up. There ate a lot of passionate bikers out there but very few use their brains. I give him props for standing up, but minus points on interupting the officer several times and constantly repeating himself until his words seemingly lost all merit. And what's with the weird rabbit trail stories that have nothing to do with the situation?
Just because it's a cop doesn't mean you have the right to be disrespectful. Handle your beef like an intelligent man.
The Long Beach police have a well earned reputation of being clueless about bicyclist rights, but things are changing there. The city and police cheif are behind making L.B. a much more bike friendly city.
It will take time, but I'm hoping things will continue to get better for all of us down there.
Actually Joe, MD2, and all the other critics - this guy is doing it right. He may not be the most eloquent or succinct, but he is doing fine. He stood up for himself, he insisted on ethical behavior, and he flipped the situation. In the end he does not get cited unjustly because he made a good argument and he let the officer know that he was videotaping and that he would go over his head if necessary. Y'all may not have been patient enough to absorb that message, but the officer did.
This was unethical treatment by the officer, and unlike the rider, he is on the clock and he swore an oath to the constitution to uphold the law. That's a problem.
You shouldn't have to be an expert in conflict resolution, an FBI negotiator, or an accomplished public speaker to be get treated fairly by law enforcement. I challenge anyone who thinks he did too much talking, to do better under similar circumstances - about to get a ticket, facing multiple officers, and winded from riding hard.
and furthermore, in the end he got my attention, he got Box's attention, and he got Bikeside's attention, so he did it even righter than I originally stated.
well, there goes my draft ive been writing up to propose a "talking too much law", which I was serious about. Im going to watch the whole video now before I destroy the proposal.
Also, since Joe, myself and other *geez* "critics" got Alex Thompson's attention, did we do it even right(er) too? Cause once we get "that" attention, we must be doing something right.
Los Angeles; it's all about who you know.
md2 responding to a comment by Alex Thompson
10.19.10 - 2:00 pm
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