Cop on a power trip

**uncle crud** · 09-21-2007, 04:39 PM

Okay here's a great story, 100% true, from earlier today.

At 11 AM I left home on my road bike to head to the Univ MT law library to do some research work. On my way there I stopped and got coffee and a pastry and briefly read the "independent" newspaper we have in town. By 11:45 AM I was nearing the University campus.

I got to the intersection of Maurice Ave and 6th Street at the corner of the Univeristy campus. At that intersection the short leg of Maurice is one-way, headed toward me.

One block up Maurice is the law school building.

Nobody is coming down the bike lane toward me. NOBODY.

I head up the bike lane, going "the wrong way" for one block. As I near the corner of the law school building, a motorcycle cop yells "Hey" at me and turns on his lights. I keep riding past him. He yells again. I say, "look I'm just riding a bike, okay?" and keep pedaling SLOWLY toward the bike lock-up at the rear of the law school buildling.

He rides his little Electra Glide up the sidewalk after me and he jumps off. When I stop to run my bike into a space in the lockup rack, he grabs my right arm and twists it behind my back.

I ask him what he's doing and tell him to let me go.

He tells me I'm "obstructing" and will be cited for it.

I tell him that I'm "obstructing" nothing and I ask him if he'll read to me the statute or code that shows what I'm doing was "obstruction." I invite him to come inside with me to the law library.

He says he has it memorized.

I tell him his memory is mistaken.

He puts the cuffs on me. After twisting my arm further, of course.

I ask him if I can please lock up my bike. He says no.

A nice girl comes up and volunteers to lock it for me. I give her the combination and she does a nice job of locking it up.

Copper continues to lecture me on "obstructing" him. I tell him I'm just trying to pedal to do some work at the library.

I ask him if I have to fear getting TASERed like the guy in Florida. I tell him he's not setting a good example by being such an authoritarian. I ask him why he feels the need to treat a fellow citizen of Missoula in this way.

He tightens the cuffs more.

He walks me to the curb and tells me to sit down. He calls for a squad car. The squad car comes and takes me to the Cop Shop. I get put into lock-up until 1 pm, when the judge will hear the copper's complaints and citations.

He has not given me any Miranda v Arizona warnings yet.

15 minutes pass in lockup and the copper comes to tell me the Miranda warning.

15 more minutes and we go into the court room.

Judge asks me if I want to enter a plea today, or take some time to consult with an attorney. I choose consultation time. He says to be back by October 5 with my pleas.

Prosecutor suggests $1000 bail, saying I was trying to "flee" the copper.

I explain that I was pedaling leisurely to my bike parking spot and that the copper could have caught me on foot if he wanted to, because I wasn't fleeing anyone or anything.

Bail denied.

Now I have to talk to a few local crimes lawyers.

**sfotex** · 09-21-2007, 04:50 PM

He must have mistook you for one of those 'Type A businessman' that have invaded Missoula. <kidding>

This cop doesn't sound too bright picking on people headed to the law school. Good luck with this.

**uncle crud** · 09-21-2007, 04:57 PM

No, and his failure to give the Miranda warnings was even more dumb-headed.

To prove his abuse of power -- the dude was about 6 feet 6 inches tall and probably outweighs me by a good 75 lbs. Like I was a real threat. Since it's the latter part of riding season I'm at my lightest weight. Probably 148 lbs. And only 5'10". And I'm forty-fucking-six years old, and Mr Motocop looked like he was in his late 20s or early 30s. REPEAT, there was absolutely no way I was any sort of threat.

**El Chupacabra** · 09-21-2007, 05:03 PM

Originally Posted by uncle crud

Bail denied.

Are you posting a TR from jail?

**uncle crud** · 09-21-2007, 05:06 PM

Originally Posted by El Chupacabra

Are you posting a TR from jail?

No, the request to impose bail was denied. No bail required.

I don't know jack shit about crimes law. I don't even know the lingo!

(Dang. Should have said it was my carrier pigeon typing for me.)

**snowburns** · 09-21-2007, 05:12 PM

Hey at least you didn't get tased!

**Cono Este** · 09-21-2007, 05:18 PM

Come on dude!!

Biking to the library is a "gateway" crime. You'll thank that friendly peace officer one day for keeping you from becoming a drug smuggler or bank robber.

Buy the jackoff a beer now.

**Jer** · 09-21-2007, 05:18 PM

Originally Posted by snowburns

Hey at least you didn't get tased!

Yeah, I was just gonna ask if you got tazered in the balls.

**kidwoo** · 09-21-2007, 05:24 PM

I'm so disappointed in you.

You LET a cop apprehend you when you were on a bike.

Good luck man.

**bio-smear** · 09-21-2007, 05:26 PM

Be our hero dude. Show that cop that law students are smarter. Staying tuned...

Originally Posted by kidwoo

I'm so disappointed in you.
You LET a cop apprehend you when you were on a bike.

This should never be attempted on bikes that cannot be bunny hopped.

**brettf** · 09-21-2007, 05:34 PM

Originally Posted by bio-smear

This should never be attempted on bikes that cannot be bunny hopped.

Yeah - I mean Cru always was on his BMX bike...

**bio-smear** · 09-21-2007, 05:38 PM

Originally Posted by brettf

Yeah - I mean Cru always was on his BMX bike...

Right. Ever try bombing the log decks on a road bike?

**oftpiste** · 09-21-2007, 05:38 PM

Hmmm. Power tripping, lying cops. What a surprise. Not all of them of course, only the ones I seem to run into.

**uncle crud** · 09-21-2007, 05:50 PM

Here's a killer.

I just was talking to my next-door neighbor. He works for the City fire department. He told me I should sue the city! He asked who the arresting cop was.

I went and fetched the two tickets. Told him the name. He really emphasized the need to sue the city.

Important info when I saw the cop's name: the same cop committed brutality on one of my friends 3 years ago. I knew of that cop by name, but when I was being "arrested" I didn't pay attention to his badge.

Looks like it's time to bring down a bad cop.

**bio-smear** · 09-21-2007, 06:24 PM

Originally Posted by uncle crud

Looks like it's time to bring down a bad cop.

Cue the Prison Break cliffhanger theme music!

I hope you do bring that guy down. Protect and Serve is nowhere in the story for some of these guys.

**Flowtorch** · 09-21-2007, 06:44 PM

Oooo, that shit gets me fired up! I can definitely relate. I had a really similar experience when I was living in Boulder

in 99. Two cops pounced on me from behind totally unannounced...of course I tense up hard thinking I'm getting jumped or something and before I know it, I'm "resisting" and getting a face full of pepper spray. This huge crowd gathered round and started hazin the cops like what the fuck. Before I know it there were either 4 or 5 cops on me and they were ON me.

I get charged with resisting, spitting on a cop, and false reporting because I half drunkenly but unknowingly pushed one of those fire alarm buttons in a dark hallway by the bathroom.

But the best part is my dirty stripper girlfriend(from the bus stop) bailed me out. We got home about 4am, start to go at it and when we were finished, we both start feeling this BURNING sensation on the ol genitalia. My dick felt like it was on fire as did her unmentionables...and no that wasn't a side effect of dating a stripper.

Turned out I had been rubbing my eyes and then touching my...well, you get the idea.

Lot a cops have power trips and it sucks peoples lives can get fucked up by that. Not all of em though. I got a brother who's a cop and I tell him he better not act like some of these assholes.

But I think I'd take the pepper spray over the taser.

**skinny_kid** · 09-21-2007, 06:56 PM

I don't know man. I saw a dude that got sprayed in Memphis and he looked like a fucking dragon. Snot coming out all over the place. Pretty bad image. And all the Cops and Paramedics were just standing around waiting for the snot to subside I guess. I would have thrown some water on him or something.

**Jer** · 09-21-2007, 07:04 PM

Originally Posted by skinny_kid

I would have thrown some water on him or something.

Why would you do that? Did you want to melt him?

**uncle crud** · 09-21-2007, 07:09 PM

new interesting detail:

another friend tells me that the copper in question has a fondness for peruvian flake, a/k/a bolivian marching powder, a/k/a jj cale's former lover.

kinda makes me wonder whether he's a 'roider too.

+++++++++++++

my mother worked at the White House press office aeons ago, during the Nixon & Ford Admins. She worked late during the winter months and so one of the Secret Service dudes gave her a holster w/ Mace in a spray can.

one time we were riding in the back of the car -- my brother & me -- and we saw the Mace holster. neither of us knew what it was or where it came from so we started examining it. a tiny, tiny bit of it released just from us clumsily handling it. my fingers got the bulk of it. I didn't know until I rubbed my eye later that day, and it burned like hell and watered for what seemed like a half hour.

friends of mine got Maced by the PD in 2000 when the PD over-reacted to the Hell's Angels holding a night out here because their summer rally that year was nearby.

and I already said that it happened, but never told how this same officer brutalized my friend Tim. Tim was riding in the Critical Mass ride about 3 yrs ago and for that ride the organizers told the PD in advance to try to avoid hassles. The PD over-reacted just as it did for Hell's Angels in 2000, and they FORCED a particular route on the CM riders. Tim rode along with the ride until it got near his apartment and then tried to break out of the mass to ride home. The officer Moto Man who went overboard on me today was the officer for Tim's surprise trip OFF HIS BIKE -- he was pulled from his bike by this officer, who threw him to the ground and drove a knee into Tim's back. He also forced Tim's face down onto the pavement and roughed him up a bit. The rationale? "We told you that there were only certain points where riders could leave the Critical Mass ride. This wasn't one of those places."

Dictators on power trips. That's the local PD way.

There's a quote attributed to an Irish revolutionary which sums it up pretty well.

"There is no human situation so miserable that it cannot be made worse by the presence of a policeman."

++++++++++++++

Thanks to all of y'all for the positive vibes.

**SuperChief** · 09-21-2007, 07:14 PM

Amazing How small Missoula really is...small town circles

**uncle crud** · 09-21-2007, 07:27 PM

Originally Posted by SuperChief

Amazing How small Missoula really is...small town circles

No shit.

You remember that Critical Mass ride? 2004 or 2003 maybe? Big one -- biggest in our town for sure. Tim wasn't the only one that got brutalized for leaving the pack. Several others did too, and it caused a big stir-up in the local papers for a few weeks afterward.

**Crinkle** · 09-21-2007, 07:32 PM

that sucks a fat one, hopefully shit works out for you. I don't have a problem with cops, except those on a power trip, sounds like you were in the wrong place at the wrong time. sounds like its time for a WWMD: need lawyerly advice thread on the main board

page dexter

**Flowtorch** · 09-21-2007, 07:36 PM

Originally Posted by uncle crud

"There is no human situation so miserable that it cannot be made worse by the presence of a policeman."

Yep, some truth to that.

Skinny Kid...a dragon,HA, I'm pretty sure I looked the same way. And I dont know how i got laid the way I was looking. I'm sure it was pathetic with my red snotty face, looked like i was crying and all that. Only thing that helps is douchin your face with water....once the medics arrive.

I was like a dragon, only instead of spittin hot fire i was just spittin. Then I played that off to my lawyer like, Yeah I was spitting, I had pepper spray in my mouth and I couldn't see that I was actually spitting on the cops ya know?

Got that charge dropped.

At least you didn't have to spend the weekend in jail, Uncle Crud, with it being friday. I spent easter weekend in jail a couple years ago...after a fine day of riding pow too....but that's another story.

**JeffreyJim** · 09-21-2007, 07:44 PM

Originally Posted by Flowtorch

Oooo, that shit gets me fired up! I can definitely relate. I had a really similar experience when I was living in Boulder

in 99. Two cops pounced on me from behind totally unannounced...of course I tense up hard thinking I'm getting jumped or something and before I know it, I'm "resisting" and getting a face full of pepper spray. This huge crowd gathered round and started hazin the cops like what the fuck. Before I know it there were either 4 or 5 cops on me and they were ON me.

I get charged with resisting, spitting on a cop, and false reporting because I half drunkenly but unknowingly pushed one of those fire alarm buttons in a dark hallway by the bathroom.

But the best part is my dirty stripper girlfriend(from the bus stop) bailed me out. We got home about 4am, start to go at it and when we were finished, we both start feeling this BURNING sensation on the ol genitalia. My dick felt like it was on fire as did her unmentionables...and no that wasn't a side effect of dating a stripper.

Turned out I had been rubbing my eyes and then touching my...well, you get the idea.

Lot a cops have power trips and it sucks peoples lives can get fucked up by that. Not all of em though. I got a brother who's a cop and I tell him he better not act like some of these assholes.

But I think I'd take the pepper spray over the taser.

Great story or GreatEST story?

**Ononecog** · 09-21-2007, 07:57 PM

i'll take a beating for this, BUT

you did ride your bike the wrong way on a one way street didn't you?

doesnt matter if there was traffic or not,

second you did in fact try to elude him,

When a cop says stop.. stop. kinda simple...

I stir up shit and cause trouble all the time, I never get arrested because once the police show up I sit down and shut up....

both of you are assclowns no doughnuts for either of you