Run-in with plainclothes cop

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?

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Permalink Reply by Josh L. on March 25, 2016 at 3:53pm

I'm the farthest of a fan of the Chicago police but that officer did what I tell them to do ever time I see them not ticketing a parked car in the bike lane: do your fuc**ng job.  

You ran the light; let's face it The fact that you were going to fast is on you, not the cop or person trying to turn. We can't prosecute drivers but ignore bikers.  

It seems to me you were given a stern warning, which is what you needed. Sounds like the officer was concerned for your long term health.  I wasn't there so don't know what her actual tone was but if  you ran the light and almost caused yourself to be killed - and perhaps next time somebody else - she was well within her rights to lecture you  

Mentioning her weight and what kind of car she drove is uncalled for and totally unrelated to the issue at hand  You lose credibility with those kinds of shots.

I can't tell if you final question is rhetorical or not  Why would the lack of enforcement of driving laws somehow give you a pass to run intersections at one of the busiest and nastiest intersections in the city? I bike that intersection a few times a week and I know how long the lights are there.

Permalink Reply by haruspex on March 25, 2016 at 5:23pm

So...I never denied at any point that I had done anything wrong. I believe that the cop's reaction to what I did was out of line, but it also illustrates my central point: that bikes occupy an uncertain (and typically inferior) place in the eyes of the law. I actually welcome stricter regulation of cyclists, as long as it goes hand-in-hand with equal and protected rights to the road. I would have been happier if I had been ticketed, because that would have been the cop doing his job. Yelling at and intimidating me does not make it clear that I broke the law - it just conveys that I exist in some hazy middle ground undeserving of respect or fair treatment.

Ultimately, I object to the manner in which the cop - a man by the way - handled my transgression and the hostility with which he issued the warning. The screaming and the angry tone were completely unnecessary, and did very little to convince me that he was at all concerned about my safety.

You're right - I should not have mentioned the cop's weight. If I could take that back, I would.

Permalink Reply by Josh L. on March 26, 2016 at 4:26am

Look I don't support hostility and humiliation. But I yell at drivers when they come to close to me or flagrantly break the law.  So I think you can understand why this cop was so irate - you almost killed  yourself and others.  Sounds like they were at level 10 and should have been at level 8. You might want to cut the guy some slack  - the weather was bad, traffic is dreadful there..and undoubtedly he was stressed.

Now I guess for your theory to be true you assume that the cop would not have ticketed a driver who blew the light?  I don't know the answer but it's worth considering.

I am not sure that cops see bikes as inferior but that they are too lenient with cars  parking in the bike lanes and double parking.  I run intersections all the times with cops right next to me and have never gotten a ticket (I run the intersection after I stop and there are no cars coming..."Idaho Stop").

Like you I am beyond furious at how the cops have failed to enforce violations of bike lane parking and stopping.  Chicago has just given itself over to cars...you can double park all over - Michigan Avenue, River North....block buses, cars, and bikes - and NEVER worry about getting a ticket.  But there's no tie in between this and running a light my friend. :)

Permalink Reply by haruspex on March 26, 2016 at 2:04pm

Thanks for responding Josh.

Again - I acknowledge that I was in the wrong here. I recounted the whole incident so that that would be clear. I am not sure how the cop might have handled a driver committing the same offense, but I suspect that the exchange would have been a bit less confrontational, ticket or not.

The thing is - I'm not sure cops (let alone drivers) completely understand what our rights as cyclists are. We have them, but they are rarely, if ever enforced. Unfortunately, we also have a traffic infrastructure and rules of the road that treat bikes as separate, but equal. We are vehicles, but we're not; we have our own lanes in some places, but not everywhere. Even where bike lanes exist, they are poorly maintained and tend to be designed to accommodate motor vehicle traffic first and bike traffic second.

The cop's response was nothing short of intimidation. I might expect aggression like that if I had just murdered someone, but I was a cyclist, and I ran a red. The actual impact of this inadvertent infraction was pretty minimal - I inconvenienced a left-turning vehicle. So, shame on me for a bad call, but I prefer a little less open hostility with my safety lesson, thanks. Otherwise, please ticket me so I know where I stand with the law. It's hard to feel any sympathy for the cop when he had zero reservations about treating me like I was subhuman.

Permalink Reply by Josh L. on March 28, 2016 at 12:23pm

Yes this makes sense now that I understand his level of hostility. I probably would have reacted the same way you did as it seems this guy was way out of line. It's one thing reprimanding somebody; it's another getting in their face, which it sounds like this guy did. And whatever message he had for you obviously got lost in his hostility.

An example of why screaming never works. The message gets lost in the anger and hostility.

Permalink Reply by Tricolor on March 28, 2016 at 10:44am

All the lights on Dearborn have timers, too, so a changing light shouldn't be a surprise.

Permalink Reply by haruspex on March 28, 2016 at 12:07pm

This is irrelevant to the discussion. Please read the full post and follow up comments. I'm not sure how many times I need to repeat that I was in the wrong here. I openly acknowledge that. This is about how law enforcement handles bicycle traffic - when we follow the rules and otherwise. If you have an anecdote about an experience with CPD - positive or negative - please share it. As much as I love being pilloried by my fellow cyclists, this doesn't add a whole lot to the conversation.

Permalink Reply by Ken Gray on March 25, 2016 at 4:00pm

Ok, you were yelled at. But know one is going to have to put up a Ghost Bike for you, sounds to me like you"re the winner here. I don't know if the plain clothes cop was really concerned for your safety or just very mad and as you suggest, having a bad day, but the only important thing is that you are OK, not hurt, no ticket, and No Ghost Bike. True drivers get away with dangerous and bad behavior all the time, but they do get tickets, they get yelled at by cops, (and us) and sometimes they even go to jail. No one wants to be screamed at but in the scheme of things this is small potatos.

Permalink Reply by Jim Reho on March 25, 2016 at 5:38pm

By way of analogy...when you go to traffic court on a ticket, before court starts they give a little speech about what are and are not defenses to traffic offenses.  Number one, just because you think everybody else is doing something doesn't give you an excuse to do it.  It's true that drivers break all kinds of traffic rules all the time.  So do cyclists.  But just because drivers do bad things, that doesn't justify cyclists in doing bad things, and vice-versa.

I was out riding my on Wednesday night too.  It was a night when weather conditions dictated extra caution from everyone on the roadway.  It's scary that you would be going so fast in the rain that you couldn't stop for the light in that area.  That's on you.  More than being lucky to not get a ticket, you're lucky you didn't get your ticket punched for good.  I agree with the other commenters.  This is by far not the worst conduct I've heard about from a police officer.  She saw you put yourself in danger and saw fit to call the incident to your attention in an effort to make you think about what you'd done.  Does it occur to you that maybe, just maybe, the officer was trying to act in your best interest?  That she was concerned about your safety?  Heck, I was concerned about your safety just reading your post!  Be careful out there, like all of us should.

 

Permalink Reply by haruspex on March 26, 2016 at 11:45am

Like I said earlier...I was not trying to excuse what I did. I admitted to my transgression to the cop, just as I would have dutifully paid the fine if I had been ticketed. My issue is with the cop's belligerence, which was wildly disproportionate to the offense, and, in my opinion, epitomized a culture of aggression and marginalization of cyclists that extends to regular citizens and law enforcement personnel alike. If I had done the same thing as a motorist, I suspect that I would have been calmly pulled over, politely notified of what I had done wrong, and then either ticketed or let off with a warning - all without any of the scorn or shouting.

I tried very hard to believe that the officer - a man by the way - was simply concerned about my safety, as you suggest. But maybe you missed the part where I said he was seething with rage. This was not an exaggeration. He was clearly out to intimidate me. And intimidation - far from being an effective method of ensuring compliance with the law - is nothing more than a tool of oppression. I don't deserve the dignity of getting ticketed or having my rights/wrongdoing explained in clear, calm terms; I just get an explosive salvo of verbal abuse from the window of a car.

The point of posting about this incident was to start a conversation about treatment of cyclists by our laws and law enforcement - when we obey the rules, when we don't, whether we find ourselves disadvantaged by certain policies/infrastructure, whether our rights are adequately guaranteed and protected, etc. I openly admit to having been in the wrong in this case, but I think the cop's response was severely mishandled. Ticket me or don't - just, you know, treat me like a human being next time?

Thanks all the same for your words of concern.

Permalink Reply by Yasmeen on March 26, 2016 at 12:41pm
I hear you completely. I was in a similar situation and had an officer full of rage with me, seeming to look for a fight. A fight I did not give but worried very much about what he would have done if I argued back. This was right after he didn't bother to do anything about the car he saw nearly hit me by pulling out into the bike lane. It's frightening and there are definitely police that seem to have an ax to grind with regards to cyclists. I can imagine that was pretty awful. Sorry you experienced it.
Permalink Reply by curt(is) locke on March 29, 2016 at 3:09am

At BEST cyclists are treated as second class citizens.

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