A little WTF

[JC Viper]

Tonight I was riding to the supermarket and was about 2 blocks away when I had to make a right turn. As I got to the intersection which had a green light I slowed down and initiated my turn and while doing so the light had turned yellow but I was already beginning to turn. The street I was turning into was pretty narrow two lane and it the road was wet from rain so I had to slow from 5 to crawling just not to slide out and hit an oncoming car (no slipping but I get cautious when it's wet out) and I proceeded down the block.

I then had to stop for a red light at the end and it was about 2 minutes and a car is coming from behind and does the usual slow then stop a nice distance behind me. Another minute passes by with the both of us waiting and then the light turns green.

I accelerated then all of a sudden the red lights on top of the car come on along with the siren. I pulled over to let them pass me but it turns out that they wanted me to pull over anyway.

I shut off the engine and took off my helmet and the cop starts walking over then he starts in an angry voice asks me why I had to run the red light back on the street I had made my turn. I told him it wasn't red when I proceeded past the crosswalk and that it must have turned red after or while I made my turn ( I mentioned I had to slow down some more just to be safe... so much for that) and he then became angrier and said "NO, the light was red and you made the turn."

Then I responded back keeping my calm and said that the light was green when I approached it and it turned yellow while I was turning.

He then asks "You saw my car there when you turned right?" (I guess his was the oncoming car I was cautious about hitting if I slid out on the street I was turning into) And I said "I saw you coming yes" then he makes me take out my license with one hell of a fvcking pissed off attitude but I maintained calm and gave it to him.

A few minutes pass by and then the cop car slowly pulls up along side of me and his partner hands me back my license. His partner in nice low tone voice told me to take it easy next time. The pissed off cop told me to slow down next time.

I started to say "Uhmm Ok I" then he interrupts and says "shut up or I'll give you the fvuckin' summons."

WHAT THE F0CK WAS THAT! I know I didn't run the red, I could not have been speeding, but all I know is that I shouldn't have been extra cautious taking the turn and just proceed at the pace I was already at or maybe next time I'll just stop at the green light or maybe in the middle of the intersection if the light turns yellow while I'm in my turn.

Some guys who saw it told me the cops probably just wanted to make sure I had my motorcycle license. bull f0cking sh`t.

[671]

maybe they were just practicing their, "good cop -bad cop" routine for the real criminals. Good you didn't get a ticket tho'.

[matthew5656]

Was your town's local Krispy Kreme Donuts not open when he pulled you over?

[IcyHound]

Is it possible that the light he saw had turned red and the light you had had a delay on it since someone was in the intersection? Timed lights can give a different perspective from the other side depending on the traffic.

As for the attitude. Some people have them, some don't. They might have been stopping you for other reasons then the light and used that as reasonable cause. From there he may have been instigating you to see your reaction. Unpleasant? Yes.

Does your area have a high bike theft rate? Or a high rate of unlicensed/insured squids doing things?

[JC Viper]

Pics of my dorky bike are in the OD on Visibility thread.


Ticket or no ticket I'm still pissed off because of the principle of the matter. I did not run the red as he insisted. He said the light was red and I made the turn which is crap. I experience more ashole cagers on the road and I get pulled over.

It pisses me off even more is that unlike the popular belief of motorcycles getting away with such things I see cab drivers do much worse, even in front of the useless NYPD Traffic division.


I'm wondering why it took a while for the cops to turn around to follow me and why they didn't pull me over while we were at the damn light. When they officially pulled me over I was worried that I accelerated too aggressively (0 - 10 in 2 sec.)

[shane-o]

like in every organisation, there is always a few fukwits, you just happened upon a couple of "free radicals" who were loose and roaming in your path, call it "wrong time wrong place". My experiance is, for every arsehole cop ive met on the road in either the car or bike, ive meet 20 good ones

and i am by no means pro establishment, infact Id consider my self an anarchist

get over it, cause I bet they forgot you the moment they stopped lauging at you 5 seconds after you left their eye sight...puck em !!!

[storysunfolding]

I've been to some places where the cops get bored and like to mess with the occasional person.

We didn't mind it back where I grew up because they had good intentions, and even when you DID something wrong they often let you go to balance it out.

Is it maybe a trend in the area?

[Nalian]

I've been pulled over for "running a red" that I didn't run, so a cop could check out my Jeep, and so a cop could check out my bike. It's an interesting excuse, to be sure. I think a lot of times they do bait you to see how you'll react. Staying calm is always the best bet..even if you want to flip. I usually want to flip but save it til after they leave.

[tropicalhotdog]

Hey, you didn't get a ticket, even if it would have been a bogus one. Without getting into either criticism or defense of cops, fact is that BS like that happens all the time everyday (although significantly less to non-minorities). It definitely leaves a REAL bad taste in your mouth, but there's not much you can do.

Just try to focus on the bright side, that the irrationally pissed-off cop didn't decide to give you a ticket that you'd then have to waste time fighting. Yes, sad that this is the state of affairs. As said above, there's a lot of good cops and a lot of bad cops.

I got pulled over on the FDR Drive in Manhattan simply for being on a bike (they've been doing a general sweep to check everyone's papers). The cop was a massive tool, and even though I did nothing wrong he - I'm not kidding - gave me "10 minute time out." Yes, I had to stand there on the side of the road (with three other bikers, who also did nothing wrong but who had been given "time outs") until he gave me back my key. Not having kids, I didn' understand what a "time out" was, so got yelled at for asking him what I was supposed to do.

Cops is cops.

[Septimus]

The NYPD is still on a big kick of impounding sportbikes and going after everybody on two wheels to see if they're licensed. There is even a competition among them to see how many bikes they can impound (one officer was at 48 a couple weeks ago).

There is an astronomical percentage of unlicensed riders in the city and so the NYPD is predisposed to be less than civil. There area articles with pictures of rows and rows of sportbikes at the tow pound floating around.