car starts to weave into your lane, you knock/bang to get their attention... they are a cop...

I saw a car stoped askew and a bicyclist down when I got to Desplanes and Washington this morning. I recognized the cyclist as someone whom I had passed a bit further back on Milwaukee and who must have then passed me up again when I stopped to fidget with my chain. I was amazed to see a police office already there until I realized that the cyclist was in handcuffs. I didn't actually witness what happened but from hearing what the cyclist was saying and what the officer was telling dispatch on his cell phone and what a witness who did actually see some of this said something similar to the following must have occurred:

The officer was off duty, likely on his way home from work in his own civilian car.

the cyclist was riding in the bike lane on des planes.

The officer was weaving lanes a bit and driving a bit aggressively (according to the cyclist and the witness the officer said he was stopped and not moving to the on duty officer who arrived later but had indicated he was in motion when initially calling dispatch)

A witness showed up who said she saw the cop weaving as he drove and asked if she should stay to give her information the cop told her that he did not need her information and she could (/should) go. The cyclist said he did need her information and she should stay. This was a red flag that caused me to stick around. I got her number on two of my business cards and tried to give the cyclist one. The officer told me I could not give someone who was under arrest anything, I said its just a business card. He took the business card from me.  I told the cyclist I would post something to thechainlink.org so he can locate me if he doesn't still have her info. in the hopes of making this searchable I'm putting his name in the Tags, but I do not know if I have the spelling correct.

The bicyclist says he saw the officer weave a bit into the bike lane and knocked or banged on the car to alert the officer to his presence, the degree of force used for this knock was of some discussion ('a light tap?' 'no, loud enough that he could hear me' - 'he banged on my car hard, for no reason I was stopped')

Clearly blood was running hot, voices were raised but everyone was civil enough.

The cyclist asked what he was under arrest for the officer cited 'reckless conduct' or something vague and could not cite a statute number. The cyclist said he is a  lawyer, threats of lawsuits for improper arrest/detainment were issued.

What a mess...

For what its worth:

I don't think any cyclist bangs on windows unprovoked. Your hand is worth more than the glass and is more breakable, that's pretty clear even when road rage of getting cut off runs high.

The cop probably was tired coming off a hard shift doing thankless work and did not have any patience left.

No damage was visible to the car or the cyclist.

I'm glad no one got hurt, but what are you supposed to do when a car cuts into the bike lane... and its an off duty cop!

If you are the cyclist, and you need the witnesses phone number, call me at: tree one too, cinco quarto tres, eighty seven, 41.

I wrote this up within an hour of what I saw, but I arrived too late to see the events leading up to the arrest and even now my memory grows fuzzy... I wish my gopro hadn't been out of batteries, or that the cyclist had had one. ugh.

Streetsblog article http://chi.streetsblog.org/2015/11/09/cyclist-arrested-by-allegedly...

Most recent Streetsblog article: http://chi.streetsblog.org/2015/11/13/witness-officer-drove-reckles...

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Permalink Reply by Joe Guzzardo on October 18, 2015 at 2:32am

Hmmm, interesting point. I can't help but wonder if the officer had a chip on his shoulder that the bicyclist just happened to nudge a little too much. Or maybe he's an aspiring detective.

Having read and thought over this thread, I think the best reaction is just to scream as mentioned earlier. I actually did that once while riding along the lakefront. I was about to pass a jogger running in the same direction as me when he suddenly turned into my path, without warning. We made physical contact but no harm was done. I think my scream might have alerted him enough to avoid any worse contact. My reaction was primal, instinctive. I had no chance to even think about it. 

Permalink Reply by Christopher Range on October 18, 2015 at 7:40pm

Even though, I don't live in the 'windy city'.  What happened in this situation.  Is another example of why I don't use bike lanes', and I 'take the(travel) lane'.

Permalink Reply by David Barish on October 21, 2015 at 6:00am

Joe, I agree. This is one off those cases where a loud primal  scream does more than make you feel good, it is really the best  way to communicate the impending danger. Physical contact with the vehicle can be effective if it is perceived as an attempt at communication rather  than as aggression. A knock has a much  different meaning than a punch or a slap. I think the cyclist here had some pretty understandable anger. What would  Officer Friendly have  done if the contact was perceived as an attempt at communication where sound simply was not an option? What would his colleagues have done if this intent became clear at the outset?  Just throwing that out there.  I  have made contact with vehicles on rare occasions and it  is usually a "Uh, excuse me, hello, please do not kill me, let  me introduce myself" type sarcasm/communication and not of the "I'm gonna break  your friggin' windshield" variety. It is a wake up call rather than a call to action.

Permalink Reply by Mike Schwab on October 19, 2015 at 5:00am

In case of emergency requiring lots of cars or retaliation by a criminal, an off duty officer has his guns and cuffs on him at all times.  Often drives his squad car unless he is leaving his patrol area.

Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on October 19, 2015 at 8:57am

If the officer was going to/from work or court, carrying handcuffs would be a normal thing.

Permalink Reply by Jim Reho on October 18, 2015 at 6:07am

There is a problem in Chicago with a minority (and I stress that) of police officers who act out while they're off duty, just because they can.  Based on the statements of the unbiased eye witness, the officer was in the wrong here.  He had no reasonable ground to arrest Mr. Liu.  He simply could not stand the idea of a lowly cyclist challenging his lordly authority over the road.  It will be interesting to hear how that administrative hearing goes.  That hearing officer, whose employment is terminable at the whim of the city, is going to feel a lot of pressure to side with the officer.  I hope Mr. Liu wins his hearing or brings an administrative law action if he doesn't, and that he pursues a professional complaint against the officer as well as a lawsuit for false arrestif he sees fit.  Chicago is not supposed to be a police state, and egregious actions like this by the police (again, a small minority of them) should not be tolerated.     

Permalink Reply by Maurice on October 18, 2015 at 12:44pm
Let's not blame the apparent victim here.

#yesallcyclists
Permalink Reply by Jeff Markus on October 18, 2015 at 2:07pm

The unfortunate situation is it is possible to be up on assault charges for charging at a person on foot or in their vehicle. If the cyclist were charged with that it is a matter of defending oneself in court. Chances tho neither the original Driver (off duty cop) or the officer in uniform at the scene would want to do that. 

The off dooty cop would not want the details to end up in their 'jacket' and the uniformed officer has better things to do than spend a day off in court for what they know is a case of officer-behaving-badly.

However if the police can put the 'fear of justice' into a civilian they will say or do most anything they want.

Rappnig on an auto can be a bad idea for several reasons including even a Smart car outweighs ya'll.

The Air-Zoom was an air horn sold awhile back that could take 120PSI and if I recall about 110decibels output. This is probably the best legal option tho I like the 'head'light idea as well since most times being recognized as traffic is the important issue along with SURVIVAL.

Jeff

Permalink Reply by Maurice on October 21, 2015 at 4:26am

Me, much earlier in this thread:

"If a car is driving into me, my first resort also is to scream at them, but that's not always effective in a distracted driving scenario.  My fallback is to hit the car once in a way that's indistinguishable from them driving into me.  This causes them to stop 100% of the time.  If they rage out afterwards, it's a helluvalot better than being crushed under their wheels...YMMV, but I'm an adult male, so their rage has never escalated beyond yelling out the window from the safety of their metal box."

 

Case in point, this morning, I was riding down a bridge when a car started to pass me, then slowly drifted into me and executed the mother of all right hooks.  There was no escape for me, as I would've had to stop on a dime to avoid a collision.  That's impossible under ideal circumstances but especially when riding downhill.

 

Anyway, my yells (stage 1) were completely ignored, which was shocking since I assumed he must've seen me before passing. I proceeded to single slap (stage 2), and he immediately changed his angle slightly before stopping which allowed me to turn with him slightly, diminishing the impact and possibly saving my life.  Dude meekly refused even to roll down his window before speeding off, but I do not at all regret the slap (or smashing the shit out of his fender as he slowed to a stop or cursing him out or flipping him off).

Permalink Reply by Ben R. on October 21, 2015 at 5:20am

yuck. I would say that puts them in the position of a 'hit and run', if you happened to catch their license plate I'd be calling 311 with that tale. The problem will of course be that 'you hit them in their side' which if you're not familiar with the right hook scenario as many 311 operators are probably not, they'll try to make it seem like it was your fault. Still worth reporting and do use the term 'right hook' in your report.

no chance you have any dashcam/GoPro Footage of the incident for the win?

Permalink Reply by Steve G on October 21, 2015 at 5:56am
If we are talking hit and run, that's a 911 call, or visit to a police station to make an accident report.
Permalink Reply by Maurice on October 21, 2015 at 7:40am

No footage and no license plate, as I was momentarily concerned with figuring out whether I (or my bike) had been seriously injured in the rather hard collision.  The coward took that opportunity to run away, as cowards do.

 

Just offering another data point for the people who condemn all slapping or deem it a disproportionate response.

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