Got pulled over riding a bike yesterday! - Cycling Mob: Road Cycling, Mountain Biking and More

08-23-2003, 07:36 PM

I was pulled over by a police car on Friday while biking on my day off.

My only crime was I fit a local profile of a solitary man riding a bike
during the day on a work week.

The officer checked by ID, asked where I lived, where I was headed and
if I was on parole (!), and then just sent me on my way. He was very
civil, but the whole thing struck me as weird. I asked if some crime
had happened in the last few minutes, but he said no, and that's when
he came right out and told me about the profile.

A sweaty guy wearing an iPod and headphones on a bike fits a profile?
And I was on the home stretch of my ride against a hefty head wind, so
I way just tooling along pretty leisurly.

Anyone else have this happen? It didn't even strike me as odd
initially. I thought I just had a good little cycling tale, but it
seems odder and odder the more I think about it.

08-23-2003, 09:46 PM

If you are not working, shopping, at home watching television or driving to
one of those activities, then you are a suspect of not towing the corporate
line. What's unusual about that, it's been that way for a while.

"Quiet Desperation" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote in message
news:[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]...
> I was pulled over by a police car on Friday while biking on my day off.
>
> My only crime was I fit a local profile of a solitary man riding a bike
> during the day on a work week.
>
> The officer checked by ID, asked where I lived, where I was headed and
> if I was on parole (!), and then just sent me on my way. He was very
> civil, but the whole thing struck me as weird. I asked if some crime
> had happened in the last few minutes, but he said no, and that's when
> he came right out and told me about the profile.
>
> A sweaty guy wearing an iPod and headphones on a bike fits a profile?
> And I was on the home stretch of my ride against a hefty head wind, so
> I way just tooling along pretty leisurly.
>
> Anyone else have this happen? It didn't even strike me as odd
> initially. I thought I just had a good little cycling tale, but it
> seems odder and odder the more I think about it.

08-24-2003, 03:54 AM

"Luigi de Guzman" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote in message
news:308301c1.0308240258.2402a445@posting.google.c om...
> Quiet Desperation <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote in message
news:<[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]>...
>
> You're lucky he didn't book you for riding with headphones. Many
> states prohibit this outright, for instance, Virginia:
>
> "It shall be unlawful for any person to operate a motor vehicle,
> bicycle, electric personal assistive mobility device, electric
> power-assisted bicycle, or moped on the highways in the Commonwealth
> while using earphones on or in both ears.
>
> For the purpose of this section, "earphones" shall mean any device
> worn on or in both ears that converts electrical energy to sound waves
> or which impairs or hinders the person's ability to hear, but shall
> not include (i) any prosthetic device that aids the hard of hearing,
> (ii) earphones installed in helmets worn by motorcycle operators and
> riders and used as part of a communications system, or (iii)
> nonprosthetic, closed-ear, open-back, electronic noise-cancellation
> devices designed and used to enhance the hearing ability of persons
> who operate vehicles in high-noise environments, provided any such
> device is being worn by the operator of a vehicle with a gross vehicle
> weight rating of 26,000 pounds or more. The provisions of this section
> shall not apply to the driver of any emergency vehicle as defined in §
> 46.2-920."
>
> -Code of Virginia, (Code 1950, § 46-219.1; 1950, p. 882; 1958, c. 541,
> § 46.1-202.1; 1989, c. 727; 1993, c. 126; 1997, c. 36; 2001, c. 834;
> 2002, c. 254.)
>
> As my Dad told me many times: Don't even give the cops the *excuse*
> to give you trouble--because if you do, they sure as hell will *make*
> trouble for you....
>
> -Luigi

Thanks for doing the home work. The way I read it means; that you can ride
with one earphone. It also gives me one more reason for getting those Bose
noise cancelling earphones.

08-24-2003, 03:56 AM

On Sat, 23 Aug 2003 20:36:17 -0700, Quiet Desperation
<[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote:

>I was pulled over by a police car on Friday while biking on my day off.
>
>My only crime was I fit a local profile of a solitary man riding a bike
>during the day on a work week.
[snip]
>Anyone else have this happen? It didn't even strike me as odd
>initially. I thought I just had a good little cycling tale, but it
>seems odder and odder the more I think about it.

I've never been pulled over, but I had a police cruiser come alongside
and ask me a few questions. I was on my morning commute and they were
looking for someone on a bicycle. They were not looking for me and the
questions were about whether I had seen someone else. (I got the
impression that the lights and reflective gear made me too
conspicuous, anyway.)

08-24-2003, 06:55 AM

Yup. The exact same thing happened to me several years ago.

I was on my way for some auto parts (breakdown) and a woman in an unmarked car
came along side REAL close. I got mad and had some REAL choice words for her.
Choice meaning foul! She had come so close that she almost hit me.

Then she flashed a badge. When I questioned if she pulled me over because I
swore at her she said no. I hadn't backed down though. I was still yelling at
her for getting so close.

She was real nice though and then I remembered the story from the news the
night before about some molester who's M.O. was to ride to schools on his bike
and bug little kids.

She admitted that I in no way fit his description (other than a bicycle). She
said the only reason they stopped me was that I was the only person they saw on
a bike all day.

I told her , no surprise, after all, it was about 98 degrees. No big deal but
they take your name and address so it is kinda scary.

08-24-2003, 06:58 AM

I've been pulled over 3 times:

First was about 20 years ago, for speeding. It was a long downhill stretch
and I was going 40+ in a 35 mph zone. I asked the cop to give me a ticket,
but he wouldn't.

The other times were in a nearby neighborhood where a cop seems to have it
in for cyclists. Both times he stopped me for running a stop sign at an
empty 4 way stop in a quiet neighborhood. He warned me both times that if
he saw me do it again, he would give me a citation. The second time I said
that if I had to stop at every single stop sign, it would be completely
pointless to ride in the area, and he said that that was the idea.

Duffy

"jdsingleton" <jdsingleton@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news

06hkvclpc4lbc4idftgagf5lskajdf67n@4ax.com...
> On Sat, 23 Aug 2003 20:36:17 -0700, Quiet Desperation
> <nospam@nospam.com> wrote:
>
> >I was pulled over by a police car on Friday while biking on my day off.
> >
> >My only crime was I fit a local profile of a solitary man riding a bike
> >during the day on a work week.
> [snip]
> >Anyone else have this happen? It didn't even strike me as odd
> >initially. I thought I just had a good little cycling tale, but it
> >seems odder and odder the more I think about it.
>
> I've never been pulled over, but I had a police cruiser come alongside
> and ask me a few questions. I was on my morning commute and they were
> looking for someone on a bicycle. They were not looking for me and the
> questions were about whether I had seen someone else. (I got the
> impression that the lights and reflective gear made me too
> conspicuous, anyway.)
>
>

08-24-2003, 08:16 AM

In article <uo42b.9092$[Only registered and activated users can see links. ].com>, "Duffy Pratt"
<[Only registered and activated users can see links. ].com> wrote:

> I've been pulled over 3 times:
>
> First was about 20 years ago, for speeding. It was a long downhill stretch
> and I was going 40+ in a 35 mph zone. I asked the cop to give me a ticket,
> but he wouldn't.
>
> The other times were in a nearby neighborhood where a cop seems to have it
> in for cyclists. Both times he stopped me for running a stop sign at an
> empty 4 way stop in a quiet neighborhood. He warned me both times that if
> he saw me do it again, he would give me a citation. The second time I said
> that if I had to stop at every single stop sign, it would be completely
> pointless to ride in the area, and he said that that was the idea.
>
> Duffy
>
Geez, maybe they could be on the lookout for, say, rapists or robbers?
Unless you're in a low-crime area where there is nothing for cops to do.

08-24-2003, 08:34 AM

"Quiet Desperation" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote in message
news:[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]...
> I was pulled over by a police car on Friday while biking on my day off.
>
> My only crime was I fit a local profile of a solitary man riding a bike
> during the day on a work week.

Well, wearing headphones while operating a vehicle is illegal most places.
>
> The officer checked by ID,

And because of the headphones, he had you. Police can demand identification
of someone suspected of or in the process of committing a crime. Not
otherwise. Of course, making a stand on this issue can result in great
unpleasantness.

> Anyone else have this happen? It didn't even strike me as odd
> initially. I thought I just had a good little cycling tale, but it
> seems odder and odder the more I think about it.

Where were you when this happened?

RichC

08-24-2003, 09:28 AM

"Rich Clark" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote in message
news:[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]...
>
> "Quiet Desperation" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote in message
> news:[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]...
> > I was pulled over by a police car on Friday while biking on my day off.
> >
> > My only crime was I fit a local profile of a solitary man riding a bike
> > during the day on a work week.
>
> Well, wearing headphones while operating a vehicle is illegal most places.
> >
> > The officer checked by ID,
>
> And because of the headphones, he had you. Police can demand
identification
> of someone suspected of or in the process of committing a crime. Not
> otherwise. Of course, making a stand on this issue can result in great
> unpleasantness.

What if you aren't carrying ID? I often do not. It's not a matter of making
a stand. It's just a matter of not carrying something I don't need and thus
don't have to worry about losing.

I did have a cop-stop experience:

I admit it. I ran a red light. It was going straight through a T
intersection early Sunday morning. I saw the cop car a fair distance ahead
of me . I figured; 'what are the odds that he would be looking back?' Well
he was.

He gave me the standard: 'Have to follow the rules. It's still counts as
demerits against your licence.' He did ask for ID which I told him I didn't
have and that I don't have licence - which left him a bit flustered. [who
_doesn't_ have a licence???]. But I was suitably meek and apologetic. I
didn't cop an attitude and he let me go with a warning.

Oh, and as far as committing crimes on bikes: One town over from Guelph;
[Cambridge] there is an apparent cycling pervert who passes women on his
bike and sets him self up at a park bench so that the women.... errrrr....
come upon him doing rude things to himself.

I can't recall for sure but weren't police in Ottawa looking for a suspect
on a bike after the cycling student from U of Waterloo killed?

08-24-2003, 09:42 AM

"Quiet Desperation" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote in message
news:[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]...
> I was pulled over by a police car on Friday while biking on my day off.
>
> My only crime was I fit a local profile of a solitary man riding a bike
> during the day on a work week.

My uncle was pulled over three times during a trip because his car matched
the description of the getaway car for a robbery in the area. Each time he
was treated to the full "armed and dangerous criminal" stop with guns drawn,
instructions being yelled from behind open cop car doors, dangerous guy
lying down on the pavement, and finally, handcuffs. Each time they were
apologetic after they established that he wasn't their guy, but what should
have been a hour-long trip turned into a three hour nightmare.

I would have thought that the different agencies were in communication so
that his license plate was exempted from the search after the first stop....

-Buck