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 Carter O'Brien on November 13, 2015 at 8:20am

Drat.

Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on November 13, 2015 at 8:07am

Disappointing, but unfortunately not surprising.

FYI - It is VERY common for officers to wear something over their uniform while going to/from work so that it is NOT visible. Unless you see a law enforcement memorial (LE) plate, an FOP sticker or something else to make it obvious that the driver is a cop, many are effectively camouflaged while commuting.

Permalink Reply by Tandemonium on November 13, 2015 at 8:21am

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chicago-police-de...

"If a Chicago police officer is on his way home to get some sleep, he really just wants to get home and sleep", Berbas said. "I don't think that while in his personal vehicle he's going to be shooting kids because they are too loud."

Permalink Reply by Brian aka "Lord Helmut" on November 13, 2015 at 8:44am
I just wanted to say that there are many good comments posted. Ben and Yasmeen, this includes you!

I also wanted to say, the driver is "a fu*king cop" perhaps literally and for the record I have much love for the Chicago PD.
Was 911 really called? When did 911 be NOT for life-threatening emergencies? No wonder peeople end up on hold when they call. Personally, I wish there was a campaign to stop non-emergency 911 calls.

As an out of state visitor to Chicago who has a Chicago bike at the ready, I wanted to say that again, the bicycle riding in Chicago does NOT suck and it is one of my favorite places to ride anywhere.

In the Phoenix, Arizona area there is MUCH LESS respect given to bicyclists. I was run into the gutter by a school bus driver after holding a lane of traffic when there were THREE lanes going that same direction. It sucked. I actually caught up to him at a red light, riding my butt off and after yelling at him, he opened the doors of the bus, pushing me and my new bicycle into another car. That also sucked.

Chicago, like New York City, is one of those places where you need to drive or ride a bicycle assertively enough to get where you need to go, but passively enough to not piss people off. It's an art.

In Arizona, Bike Ninjas, Bike Salmon, and all sorts of crazy bicyclists are out there but they are they exception. They might, however, get more noticed. I also explain to people that if you're riding the wrong way, on a sidewalk, the injury, property damage and ticket will ALL be consider the fault of the wrong way rider. Sad, but true.

I would liike to see this situation resolved favorably for James.
In the meantime, please enjoy your great City of Chicago and all of the inspiring, enlightening bicycling it brings!
Permalink Reply by Tony Adams on November 13, 2015 at 10:54am

Unfortunately 911 in Chicago has been for non-life-threatening non-emergencies for quite a while now. Let's say you want to report a car illegally parked in a bike lane, or whatever. This is clearly not an emergency of any kind. So you call 311, the City's non-emergency phone number/switchboard. You may be on hold for up to half an hour waiting for someone at 311 to answer. If you have not hung up already, you describe the situation and the 311 operator TRANSFERS YOUR CALL TO 911. They claim there is no way to get the immediate attention of the police other than by way of 911 emergency or not. So, next time rather than going through all that you just don't call. YMMV

Permalink Reply by Juan 2-3 or more mi. on November 13, 2015 at 8:50am

#drivingprivilege

Permalink Reply by Maurice on November 13, 2015 at 9:56am

"Administrative Law Judges are private attorneys who have been licensed to practice law in the State of Illinois for a minimum of 3 years."

 

Yeah, ALJs are not "judges" in the conventional sense (circuit or district court judges).  They're often practicing attorneys.  Of course that only makes it even more questionable for an ALJ to rule that a police officer on his way to work is necessarily blameless.  The cyclist was a lawyer (like the ALJ) who was on his way to work.  Doesn't a lawyer just want "to get to work, check in and do his job," or is he uniquely "looking to instigate or start" something by banging on a car for no reason?

 

It's hard to believe that the ALJ is inherently biased against fellow lawyers.  Indeed, the ALJ knows that it could cost a lawyer his license if he lies to a tribunal.  For these reasons, it is very unusual for a court to find that a lawyer is lying, but studies show that lawyers and judges widely assume that police officers lie under oath routinely to cover for bad arrests.  Does this suggest that the ALJ is biased against cyclists or in favor of motorists or both? 

Permalink Reply by Juan 2-3 or more mi. on November 13, 2015 at 11:00am

#cagersRdummys

Permalink Reply by Jeremy on November 13, 2015 at 4:47pm

I found a 2002 article on the Tribune's website about a George Berbas who was an Assistant State's Attorney who failed to disclose evidence to the defense.  A couple of years later, the accused was released from prison after a new trial was granted.

"In the fall of 1997, just before the trial was set to begin--and long after the deadline for disclosing evidence--Assistant State's Attys. George Berbas and Kent Sinson revealed to the defense for the first time the existence of Lipscomb-Bey's statements to the detectives.

"Calling the statements "key evidence," the prosecutors said at first that they had learned of the statement a week before the trial--then amended that to say they had learned of it just one day before the trial.

"But in the trial, another prosecutor, Kevin Gleason, testified that he had learned of the statement the day after Lipscomb-Bey was arrested, more than seven months before the trial."

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2002-01-24/news/0201240031_1_mur...

Permalink Reply by Jeremy on November 13, 2015 at 4:51pm

I often ride with a helmet camera.  I wonder if it would "disappear" if I were involved in a situation like this.

Permalink Reply by Ben R. on November 14, 2015 at 7:37am
It certainly is better to have one than not. The situation you might find yourself in Is not likely to involve arrest and confiscation. And in this case the cop did eventually give james the witness' contact info and the other officer who arrived to take him in seemed to follow procedures, it's likely the camera would remain. For the ultra paranoid I've heard of apps that upload video to the cloud such that they can not be erased on the spot.

It's troubling that our legal system seems have about the same bad rap with the public that cyclists seem to with motorists. Hopefully neither are deserved, but the perception is just the result of 'a few bad apples' as they say.
Permalink Reply by daniel kernan on November 13, 2015 at 6:31pm

i have to agree with some of the commentary indicating that it is a bad idea to touch a car.  you may be right, but it has too much potential for bad outcomes.  clearly the cop was trippin, they do that.  clearly the cyclist reacted and whacked the car as momma always said, two wrongs dont make a right.

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