Monday, February 13, 2006
bike ticket?
I left work late tonight as I usually do (mainly to avoid going home... but that's another story) and hopped on my bike as I have done every day so far this semester and last. While riding on warner, I see up ahead 2 cop cars with their lights on. As I neared the scene, I saw a bike off to the side of one of the cars with a couple people standing nearby. I assumed that someone got hit, but I didn't see another car around so my suspitions rose a bit. Just after I passed the first squad car, a copper jumps out right in front of me and starts yelling - literally yelling - for me to stop. I stop, jump off the bike, and look at the cop for an answer. He tells me to give him my ID. What? I told him I'd be glad to if he told me what the hell was going on. "You don't have a light, and I'll bet that your bike isn't registered." I get it. It's a bike checkpoint.
It was then I look around and see the half-dozen other kids who, bikes on the ground, were milling about waiting to get their ticket:
There was no fine for me, but I have to get a light and my bike registered before my court date. Now the best part (and the only reason I decided to post this story): The cop stops yet another unsuspecting victim riding in the dark (the third since he nabbed me), and tells him about the light law and to hand over his ID. The guy, obviously pissed off, mumbles under his breath, "What the f*ck?! this is horse sh*t!". The cop heard every word of it and asked if he was done. The guy retorted, much louder this time, "It's called 'freedom of speech', DICK!", emphasis on the last word. The cop loved it, and wrote him up for the maximum fine on both the missing light and lack of registration ($70), and then asked yet again if he was done. He said yes. Classic.
I'm just curious about one thing. I mean, the cop was really a dick, no argument there, but while I was waiting to get written up he asked me to pull my hands out of my jacket pockets because "he didn't know what was in there, and didn't want to find out". I mean seriously, I'm about as white as they come, and according to him I'm 5'10" and 140 lbs. What is the world coming to?
Still sick though... I actually have a flyer for it on my desk.