I had an unsettling encounter with a plainclothes officer recently and wanted a place to share my experience and invite opinions on the circumstances involved. First, the details:

I was biking home late Wednesday night, heading north on the Dearborn bike lane out of downtown, not loving the freezing rain but dealing with it. I was approaching Wacker Drive just as the lights started to change and pressed ahead, knowing that I wouldn't be able to stop before reaching the street (I was traveling too fast and the rainwater would have prolonged my brake time). I entered the intersection as the light for bike traffic turned red and the light for left-turning car traffic turned green. The driver in the first vehicle waiting for this light turns sharply into me, stops, and slams on his horn. I ignore him and proceed across the intersection. As I continue pedaling, I hear shouting behind me: "Stop your bike! Stop your bike!!!" Then I see the blue lights. I brake, but apparently not fast enough for the driver, who keeps screaming at me to stop and dismount. I look over to see a fat, red-faced cop leaning out of the window of an unmarked SUV, still bellowing angrily despite the fact that I was barely 4 feet away. "You shouldn't have crossed there!! Didn't you see the light?! Get yourself killed that way!! Better not see you do that again!!!" The abuse went on for about a minute. I responded with an instinctive, "Yes sir...No sir...Yes sir," and then he drove off and I continued on my way, part shocked, part angry, and part amused (the latter no doubt a means of coping with the shock and anger).

Now, my rant: I think it's outrageous that an officer of the law would single out a cyclist in this way (and pretend to be concerned about my welfare no less) when untold numbers of drivers get away with a wide range of infractions that impact my safety and that of other cyclists literally every second: talking and texting on their phones, throwing open their doors without looking, turning into us at intersections, drifting into bike lanes, double-parking in bike lanes, running reds, and on and on. Surely there are better ways to spend his time, if not more worthwhile targets over which to exert his authority? I suspect that this particular individual has some kind of grudge against cyclists, or was indulging an impromptu power trip, or needed someone on whom to unleash his fury after a bad day on the job, but whatever the case, he was seething with rage and if it weren't for those blue lights, I might have forgotten that I was being verbally assaulted by a policeman instead of some disgruntled asshat in an SUV. Not only was this behavior completely inappropriate for a law enforcement officer, but in my mind, it perfectly encapsulated the total disrespect with which cyclists are treated in this city, whether directly through infractions like those listed above (not to mention outright harassment) or indirectly through a traffic infrastructure that effectively marginalizes us.

Chainlink chums, I ask you: has anyone else had a similar (or otherwise) encounter with law enforcement while biking? How did you deal with it? Should I consider myself lucky that I didn't get ticketed? Is anyone as exasperated as I am by the marginalization of cyclists by our laws and infrastructure and the casual, everyday offenses of motorists that invariably go unpunished?