Did Cops Try To Mow Down Cyclists?

LA Weekly: Did Cops Try To Mow Down Cyclists?

By Dennis Romero in City News, Over the Weekend, community, crime, odd newsTue., Dec. 1 2009 @ 12:08PM

The hardcore cyclist community in Los Angeles is abuzz with anecdotal reports that a pair of officers tried to take down several bicyclists during a community tour downtown over the weekend.

The Critical Mass events usually attract hundreds of riders. In Friday night’s trek, witnesses said the peloton, so to speak, was heading down Los Angeles Street when it ran into a black-and-white facing in the wrong direction. Officers reportedly got out and allegedly started pulling riders off their bikes.

A poster at Midnight Ridazz stated: “I got grabbed by the female officer after trying to ride around all the kids they had already brought down since I was at the back of the pack. She didn’t ask me to stop, I was obeying all traffic laws, she just fucking grabbed my upper arm while I was riding by at about 15 mph trying to catch up to the pack. Thankfully I was able to shake her off and not go down. We were on Los Angeles St., no traffic, no peds, totally quiet, and I guess this pair of cops got pissed that some people were riding on the wrong side of the road.”

Strangely, the Ridazz site is also pronounced in its support for the Los Angeles Police Department, stating, “The Midnight Ridazz would like to extend a sincere thanks to the LAPD and especially to the officer (whose name we did not get) who recently helped to escort our ride through the streets of Los Angeles. We are all part of the neighborhoods we ride and we support the LAPD!”

An LAPD Central Division watch commander told LA Weekly he knew nothing about the alleged incident.

We’ve seen some of these mass rides downtown and can attest to a lack of adherence to traffic laws (the swarms of riders often paint outside the traffic lines and blast through red lights and stop signs if traffic is already stopped for the procession). But that doesn’t mean police need to start mowing cyclists down like paparazzi at a Kanye West sighting.

Spotted at LAObserved.