I fought the law and... well, it was a bit of a tie

General
1

I’ll use the first person just to make a clearer story, but I’m not admitting to this being me, because then I’d be a fugitive:

I was pedaling around the Central Park bike loop this evening when I saw a red light ahead of me. There was a car waiting at the light, and some folks were crossing the path. When riding my g36 with 125s, I tend not to stop unless necessary (ie, never) because I can always ride around the folks who are crossing the path and because, well, you know it’s not easy to slow down from 16+mph to a stop. Etc, etc. I don’t want to hear about safety issues, folks, and how your mailman’s nephew’s best friend was hit by a bike and now has to eat peas thru a straw. I’ve been riding 33 years and I’m pretty good at not hitting walkers. So.

OK, let’s just forget that there were people crossing at the light. Just drop it, ok! I get it. Peas. Let’s just say that there was an unmarked cop SUV at this light, and I flat out ignored it. Cops are always waving me thru these lights anyhow, and generally we know each other by sight, but not this one. She caught up to me a moment later (meaning: She’d driven thru the red light) and said, thru her open window, “You need to stop.” I yelled back that I couldn’t (not true), and she asked for clarification, and I told her that I don’t like to stop. Meanwhile, we’ve ridden thru another red light and she’s beginning to veer a bit closer to me, but not unsafely so. We’ll take it on faith that she’s been driving for 33 years and is pretty good at not hitting bikers. So.

Anyway, next I yell back that I can stop but that I don’t want to, and she says, “Yeah, but you have to. I’m a cop.” Finally, a break in the case! Actually, a break in the bike path: Just ahead is a spot with a 90º turn that leads to some pedestrian paths. I slow down a bit and make the turn, which is difficult (if not impossible) for her to do because she’s already driven past the path AND because the path is not intended for cars (tho occ’ly official vehicles will drive on them). Within seconds she’s hundreds of feet behind me.

I’m zipping down this path when suddenly the fact that I’m on a g36 with 125s – in the dark on a path I never ride on - catches up with me; within seconds, there are two feet behind me, and they’re both mine. So now I’ve got a silver dollar scrape on my knee and a hubcap scrape on my right buttock, but here’s what I don’t have: A $270 ticket! I’d call that a tie at the very least.

Disclaimer: This first-person account was related by someone who very closely resembles me but isn’t, for legal reasons, actually me.

2

Sorry, but I might have ticketed that person too, if a cop asks you to stop you need to do so.

3

Thanks, Grandma.

Actually, this was not a spur of the moment decision. I tend not to make those, really.

My brother was ticketed for something ridic a few months ago. He came to a light while riding his bicycle in the same park (different light). He stopped. He made eye-contact with a nearby cop. Then he stood up and walked across the intersection, straddling his bike. He did not pedal the bike and was moving about 2.5 mph. There were many people on bikes who completely ignored the cop and whizzed thru the intersection. My brother got a $190 ticket. Basically that was a ticket for stupidity. Sometimes if a cop asks you to stop, you need NOT to. The laws are occasionally arbitrary. My brother was completely safe and only got a ticket because he violated an interpretation of the law (he wasn’t riding, but he was straddling). I evened the score. I definitely should have gotten a ticket, and I definitely didn’t… because I told my brother that if I were in his shoes… And today I was in his shoes. And now one of my toenails in ‘his shoes’ is black, but I’m not in the red.

4

Anytime!

5

I tend to cross the road, while walking the dog, when it is convenient for me (ride off the curb and cross when there is enough space between the vehicles that I don’t cause anyone to have to stop or change their speed because of me).
I keep an eye out for police to make sure I don’t time my crossing when they are within eye shot, but today my dog and I were half way across the road far from any crosswalk when I noticed the police van.
I just kept riding, expecting them to make a u-turn and ticket me. But when they passed me, the driver had a big smile and was pointing me out to her passenger.
I fought the law and everybody won! :smiley:

6

Free the Unatic!

David,

Good for you (ahem, or your unnamed friend)!

If they had caught you, get the crowd to start chanting: Free the Unatic!:smiley:

Be well!

Billy

7

You probably mean someone who very closely resembles you but isn’t, for legal reasons, actually you.

Fun story and very well written! :slight_smile:

8

So high speed unicycle chase… I like

9

The way a unicyclist on a 36r just blends in with everybody else, always amazes me. The next time your friend goes out on his 36r the cop wont recognise him, especially if he wears a pair of sunglasses.

10

Your friend should consider drilling a hole is his toe nail if it feels like there’s pressure building up.

11

Of course, if you’re the only one in town with a 36er your days may be numbered and she may still win on penalties.

lol…I’m still chuckling about that quote now…:slight_smile:

UL

12

In the same circumstances, I would always head for a crowded fruit and vegetable market. You nearly always find that there is a barrow load of oranges that you can spill in the path of the pursuing police officer, with amusing results. If that fails, look for a brewer’s dray full of empty barrels. If you can make it swerve, the barrels will inevitably fall into the path of the police car, and one barrel will land with comic finality on its bonnet.

If all else fails, join a noisy street parade and just sort of blend in. This can work even if you are wearing a smart suit and a tie. However it can lead to you into unexpected scrapes and high jinks.

13

Thanks David, great story. Your “friend” did exactly the right thing.

14

As someone who used to ride regularly on the Central Park bike loop (and who hopes to do so again sometime in the future), I think this is really the last thing NYC unicyclists need.
If they wanted to restrict the use of unicycles, they could do so overnight and people like you and that other genius Petersen (the guy who sued NYC for 3M $ for not being allowed to ride on the sidewalk) are not helping our cause at all.
Not to mention that due to the small number of unicyclists, the next time that cop will see a 36 in central park she will assume it’s you, and will target the poor guy.

15

+1

DS= Dumb Ass

I don’t know you and you’re probably a really nice guy- but…

16

Exactly, the last thing we need is bad publicity.

Policemen are there for protection, and most of them are nice, friendly people. Of course every once in the while you run into an idiot, but that’s the way it is in every aspect of life.

The cop might have been obnoxious, but that doesn’t give the right to run away. It’s funny how we all want everyone to follow the rules but ourselves.

17

Interesting points, but completely overlooking something which I myself failed to consider: Unicycling isn’t mentioned in any NYC laws.

I was so focused on not getting caught (as my brother had been – when he was on a bike!) that I forgot this point. I wasn’t actually doing anything illegal. Sheesh. All this time I’ve been riding around Central Park – over 1000 miles – I never thought about that.

So as usual, a cop was prepared to give me a ticket for something that isn’t actually against any law. This is only slightly similar to Kyle’s experience; in his case, it was basically cops trying to meet a quota by giving him a ticket for what they assumed was illegal.

So the only thing I did wrong was… to fall. I should have just ridden my happy way, secure in the loophole. The cop wasn’t obnoxious, but I did have the right to run away (or ride away, as it were) from her.

18

As I just mentioned (above), as it turns out, I wasn’t breaking a law. The cop would have ticketed me, for sure, and then I would have had to waste my time going to the court to get out of a ticket for a law I hadn’t broken. So I was within my rights to continue pedaling, as it happens. Cops pulling people over because they think they know the law is just bad policing. I’ve been on the receiving end of that several times.

As for the ‘assume it’s you’ thing: Cops don’t get to do that, either. She’d be making two more mistakes if she ever pulled over (or tried to pull over) another unicyclist.

And who is this ‘they’ that would change the laws ‘overnight’? ‘They’ didn’t do that following Kyle’s $3M lawsuit, did ‘they’? ‘They’ certainly aren’t going to do it because I evaded false arrest.

19

+1 think about how others see you. Be a good steward for the sport.

20

Score one for the Stones! Stupid ticket + stupid attempted ticket = pissing off otherwise law-abiding citizens. Sometimes cops can be a nuisance, especially in big cities where there are lots of them around (they seem to have more time to enforce poo-poo stuff).

Yeah. You should grow a beard or something. :slight_smile:

Are you willing to take a $270 hit for “the team”? I’d rather not. Nor a wasted work day in court.

While I applaud you for making a successful escape from a poo-poo ticket, I can’t agree with that. Do you believe that you should not be subject to the same rules and regulations, traffic-wise, that apply to bicycles? Not the stuff about brakes/fenders/reflectors but the basics, like riding through red lights. Fightable in court yes, but to do so is also to suggest that there need to be laws for unicycles if they aren’t going to follow the applicable ones for bikes or other vehicles.

The other day my nephew, who works for STEP (the company that sponsored mine and Dave’s team in Ride The Lobster), got a ticket for the following. He was in a wheelchair van, dropping off one of the people STEP supports at the hospital for a follow-up visit. He had a broken femur and was in a wheelchair. My nephew was driving an accessible minivan with lowered floor and an electric ramp system. There was no place to park in the regular drop-off loop; it was filled with (empty) para-transit
vans, from people being dropped off or picked up where the driver has to assist. There were no parking spots anywhere near the hospital entrance (which is common at that one, due to the layout of the lots). But there were four adjacent Disabled spots, all empty. He pulled in there, and with the engine running, was unloading his passenger when a parking official stuck a ticket on his windshield. $409! Yes, that person is enforcing. But that person is also being a dick. He was not blocking the space from anyone that was present. He wasn’t going to leave the vehicle there (in which case I’d consider the ticket appropriate). I consider that similar to both of the situations David describes above. I am recommending that my nephew go to court and fight that one. If his description of events is true, I believe it should be thrown out.

Anyway, great story Mr. Stone. Notice your “friend” was somehow out of the picture in your second post, above. I do miss the occasional ride in NYC!