Posted on 08/09/2009 9:21:20 AM PDT by Excuse_My_Bellicosity
OGDEN -- Was it a friendly group bicycle ride through downtown Ogden or a confrontational melee that included obstructing traffic, assault, obscenities and alcohol?
Depends on who you talk to.
Numbers vary from 35 to 70, but a large group of cyclists, referred to as Critical Mass, was taking a monthly ride to celebrate cycling and assert their rights to the road on Friday when Ogden police say things got out of hand. Four individuals were arrested on charges of disorderly conduct, failure to disperse and public intoxication.
Matt Hasenyager, owner of Skyline Cycle and one of the bicyclists, said the group was obeying traffic laws and having fun.
However, police reports indicate some were hostile, disrupted traffic flow, yelled obscenities and made gestures at motorists while intoxicated.
The trouble started at the intersection of 23rd Street and Grant Avenue when a woman motorist stopped at a red light and was suddenly surrounded by bicyclists. When the light turned green, she was unable to pull forward and honked her horn.
Cyclists responded by yelling obscenities and someone threw a cup of soda pop and hit the woman in the face, the police report said. When she pulled forward, her vehicle bumped one of the bicycles, causing minor damage to the fender and wheel. Then she called police.
"They demanded she be arrested for aggravated assault, but it wasn't intentional," said Ogden Lt. Mike Ashment. "The woman didn't want to pursue anything."
The group continued its ride to 24th Street and Lincoln Avenue, where two individuals halted traffic, entered the intersection and began escorting the other riders through even though the light was red, according to the police report. Angry motorists were forced to maneuver around the pair and more gestures were made and obscenities yelled, Ashment said.
The scene was observed by a Utah Highway Patrol trooper and Weber County deputy who were assisting the Ogden City gang unit for the weekend. They arrived and instructed the two cyclists to leave the intersection and talk with them. One complied, but the other pedaled away after the group.
Deputy Trevor Petersen pursued the individual, eventually tackling him off his bike. Petersen's actions surprised the group, which then surrounded him. He ordered them to move away and called for backup, the report said. Eventually more than six officers arrived to help disperse the irate crowd.
Four individuals were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct, failure to disperse and public intoxication. They are Samuel Mc-Kay, 26; Sara Fulks, 33; Donald Hall, 61; and KC Shirra, 19. A 12-pack of beer was located in Fulks' backpack.
It was a bizarre scene, trooper Chris Turley said.
"I have never encountered something like this. Usually people are very law abiding, but the crowd was very hostile. Many were intoxicated and smelled of alcohol," Turley said. "It was unusual behavior."
Hasenyager was riding with the group and recalls the scene as one of chaos and confusion. He said his friend that was tackled didn't know the deputy wanted him to stop.
"It was hard to know who he (the deputy) was talking to when he said 'Stop sir, stop.' There 30 of us," Hasenyager said. "I don't think the police department as a whole was out of line, but this individual (the deputy) could have handled it in a different fashion. If it had been handled differently, without physical force, I wouldn't be talking about it right now. Maybe tickets could have been written."
According to several Web sites, Critical Mass is a bicycling event typically held on the last Friday of every month in hundreds of cities around the world. The ride was originally founded in 1992 in San Francisco with the idea of drawing attention to how unfriendly the city was to cyclists. Participants have insisted that these events should be viewed as "celebrations" and spontaneous gatherings, and not as protests or organized demonstrations.
Ashment and Lt. Scott Conley both find it odd that the group is out promoting fun and bicycle awareness, yet failing to comply with traffic rules and other laws.
"It doesn't jive," Ashment said.
"Why are they so confrontational with public? Why do they have alcohol in their backpacks? From what I am being told, they were they individuals escalating the situation," Conley said.
Hasenyager didn't see the incident at 23rd and Grant, but said has heard several different versions of what happened. He said it was heartbreaking to see this all happen, but the bottom line, he said, is that Ogden is an outdoor hot spot.
"The best we can do now is move this in a positive direction, learn a valuable lesson and move forward, and be better because of it."
“It is a real and unretouched photograph and it looks childish to post it on a serious F.R. thread. Concentrate efforts on the idiot Critical Mass statist libs instead.”
I disagree. As you said, it is real.
Cyclists would be wise to understand just what can happen. Simple physics. Car Vs: Bikes the car ALWAYS wins.
"...We shouldn’t let them play in traffic with these toys either..."
Hardly a toy.
You apparently haven't been shopping to see what a custom-built steel, carbon fiber, or titanium racing bike costs these days.
They haven’t seen this yet in SLC? They are awful out here in Los Angeles. Absolutely entitled! Breaking traffic rules, riding in the main streets (15 mph), pulling out into left turn lanes and then ‘jetting off’ with a foot-push. Gums traffic up badly. But there is no attempt to share the road.
I keep thinking of that Doc in Malibu who stopped suddenly and the bicyclers crashed through his rear window. I’ll bet you anything he had HAD it with that pair.
“All the car/bike problems of which I’m aware stem from large group of cyclists riding en masse which changes the whole dynamic...I have no problems with individual cyclists or pairs of cyclists.”
We have all encountered the idiots who have bike lanes but ride three or four across and block the lane you are LEGALLY driving your car in...which happens a LOT and is dangerous for all concerned. And yes, hinking your horn to let them know you are there and want the right to your lane (which is what a horn is for) usually gets you flipped off. You know it’s true...you know it happens a LOT...and I call the cops when it does...just to let them know that there is a road hazard out there...
I’m just getting ready for the future when our Dear Leader makes bicycles the only form of wheeled transport legal for white males to use.
Or course, after we pay our “mileage levy” and get our “compulsory third-party and property damage insurance”.
yes... please understand that these a-holes do not represent all cyclist.
I think it's great to get in shape and I admire Armstrong's heartrate but quite a few are pretty arrogant in trying to hog the road from cars and stupid too to do that. They don't endear themselves to drivers in the hills around here much.
There is no easy solution to this one.
When I see riders in those lycra clothes they wear it just seems like “posing”. Like look at me ...I run the Tour too. Like sandlot guys playing football in pro gear all decked out and taped up.
First time I ever saw real road bikers was in Colombia many years ago when it was a big sport there. Very brave and fit guys. Lose a tour and irate fans assasinate you. I was impressed.
Now...I see them and I get the same feeling like when I see a lawyer on a 30K hog wearing chaps and a fake patch ...lol with Wehrmacht helmet too.
one last bitch before I sit back to be scolded by Melas and the other real cyclists here...I live in Nashville and like to on weekends go with one of my spawn and take the 996 with top down out to eat at some little cafe off the Trace or some other pretty by way like middle Tennessee has all over the place and you are sitting there eating and all of a sudden about 10-20 come in all sweaty and stanky and take over...and it sorta ruins yer eggs and grits. I know they are hungry but geez....dripping in sweat wearing pedal cleats and take over a little cafe....it ain't fun.
When I was like that working construction as boy we ate outside.
ok...I'm ready...prepared to be roasted as a bike bigot
but...fit young women in tights on bikes look great...that is the good part....
Road taxes are primarily to pay for the damage vehicles cause to the road. For all practical purposes bicycles cause no damage at all. Their use, even in high quantity, requires no additional maintenance.
In fact, if more people cycled instead of driving, the need for maintenance would go down proportionately.
we pay enough in taxes already... stop giveing government more tax ideas just because you hate a segment of the road going public.
I ride a bike and I pay all my taxes... including those that maintain the roads...
The photo is a warning to Critical Mass. I could care less what's behind the story in the photo I posted. It serves well to demonstrate the nature of one mass coming into contact with smaller masses.
I would of hit em... and I’m a cyclist
“Why would a sane, licensed, and sober driver ignore police warnings and then drive full-speed into others on the road?”
Damned if I know. It doesn’t matter. Look what happened.
I tell bike riders this.You pay for registation for you bike,insurance, yearly inspections and You can share the road with me. The average car/truck owner pays thru the nose for substandard roads{ I live in PA] and sneeky policemen who set up speed traps at 7 am . When the cyclists get ticketed for blowing redlights and stopsigns, then I will feel pity.
Other than that, stay to the side and let me thru or I will flick a cigar ash at you or hit my sprayers with you behind me.
The guy was drunk was his point. And he murdered people.
Cycling is the only thing I've found that is effective at controlling my weight. Nothing else works. I'd rather be a relatively thin and fit guy with a slightly elevated risk of dying on the road, than the tub of goo I was before, with a slightly elevated risk of dying of some fat related thing. And after you've done something hour after hour, day after day, month after month, year after year, and survived just fine; it's hard to see it as borderline suicidal.
These people are power-tripping louts and bullies. The way to deal with this is to insist that police enforce the laws that all municipalities have on the books regarding deliberate attempts to impede traffic and block the public streets.
There was a mob of these 60s throwbacks operating here in Lubbock a few years ago. They were mostly jock wannabes and media tadpoles who got off on intimidating and annoying the rest of the public, couching their whole rationale in moth-eaten militant rhetoric from the 1960s. They would often make a point of blocking public streets while directly threatening anyone who objected. Their leader wrote a belligerent letter to the local paper, asserting that they were merely exercising their right to use the public roads the same way motor vehicles do.
In fact, they do have the same rights as motor vehicles but that does not include the right to block the street or impede traffic. You can’t drive a car 8 MPH down the wrong side of the street just to irritate people, for example. I pointed all this out in my own letter, a flurry of complaints about the bike bullies followed, and the cops started handing out tickets. The bike fascists have pretty well faded into obscurity in the area now, probably having moved on to anti-war protests or supporting Zero’s healthcare package.
more laws.. more taxes...
you sure you’re conservative?
Please understand that Critical Mass is not supported by the majority of serious cyclists. Don’t paint us with that brush. Critical Mass is to cycling as Bill Ayers is to civil politics. These people are nihilists.
If people want to turn them into transportation they should be licensed, and required to have the same lighting, as a motorcycle. They should also be required to yield to traffic rather than impede it.
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