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Posted on 09/19/2008 1:36:29 PM PDT by Kimmers
Indianapolis - Undercover police snatched the wheels of unsuspecting MotoGP fans over the weekend. It was a secret sting operation to seize and recover stolen motorcycles. But one Harley owner says police went overboard in his case.
Briggs Blakemore just got his hog back - a 1981 Harley Davidson Electra Glide Classic.
"The police told me the reason why they were confiscating the bike was because it was stolen. I said it's not stolen. He said yes it is. He said the motor and the frame don't match," said Blakemore.
His bike sat locked up in the police impound for three days with four others. They were plucked off city streets during Indy's first MotoGP race weekend by officers on the hunt for stolen motorcycles.
While hundreds of fans were enjoying the festivities and even the rain-soaked race, dozens of undercover Indianapolis police officers were scouring parking spaces. They were looking for VIN numbers on motorcycles.
"There were literally tens of thousands of motorcycles here in Indianapolis at that time. Throughout the United States a lot of bikes are stolen because they're easy to transport. We only towed - my understanding is - seven motorcycles and those were primarily done because the VINs either appeared altered or scratched off or missing," said Lt. Jeff Duhamell.
Altering VIN numbers is a crime. But Blakemore says he's done nothing wrong. He's armed with a title and service records to prove it. The VIN number on the neck of his bike clearly matches his paperwork from Harley Davidson Shops dating back to his purchase in 1989.
"I called Harley Davidson and Harley Davidson told me that the neck number and the engine numbers do not have to match," said Blakemore.
"It's just a situation where the detectives looked at it through their training it didn't look right as far as the VIN so that's why it was towed," said Lt. Duhamell.
Metro police finally released Blakemore's bike on Tuesday night after calls to the offices of both Mayor Ballard and Governor Daniels and upon the recommendation of another officer.
Still, Blakemore is furious that he not only missed out on Indianapolis' first MotoGP race, but more so because he believes his constitutional rights were violated.
Metro Police now confirm they were mistaken about Blakemore's Harley. It is legal. The 27-year-old bike is among a rare production of Harley's that has unique-looking VIN numbers.
IMPD did recover two stolen motorcycles and made one arrest. Under the law police can hold suspicious vehicles up to 72 hours.
"This is enough information to tell you that I own this vehicle and leave me alone. I haven't done anything wrong," said Blakemore.
This mans’ HD would never have been ‘jacked’ by the police if the US had not bailed out Harley Davidson about 10 years before this motorcycle in question was manufactured.
Harley would have closed. Perhaps someone would have bought the name and assets and created new Harley's...but I doubt the ‘new’ HD would be anywhere near as robust as it is now.
Food for thought....
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Not to mention a case like my motorcycle, where the prior owner dropped the bike and cracked the engine case, necessitating the replacement of the engine.
Not that the numbers on the headstock and engine matched from the day the bike was new at the Honda factory either.
Rather than do something about that, they jack around looking at motorcycles and call it undercover work, while the gang / drug wars continue unabated.
Worthless.
So the problem wasn't that the frame and motor didn't match, as the gentleman who owned the bike said. It was that the VIN number appeared to have been altered.
The gentleman does say that the VIN numbers matched the paperwork he had from Harley Davidson, but the article does not indicate whether or not he had the paperwork with him at the time.
So the problem wasn't that the frame and motor didn't match, as the gentleman who owned the bike said. It was that the VIN number appeared to have been altered.
The gentleman does say that the VIN numbers matched the paperwork he had from Harley Davidson, but the article does not indicate whether or not he had the paperwork with him at the time.
When VIN numbers appear to have been altered, it is perfectly reasonable for the police to take the bike and hold it until they can confirm that it has not been.
The article indicates that the VIN numbers of the bikes the police impounded appeared to have been altered or were scratched out or missing. So yes, in that case, the police were perfectly reasonable in taking the bike until they could determine rightful ownership.
Sure but on the whole I’d imagine harley riders would prefer not to have their property confiscated at the whim of an incompetent police officer.
The police were not incompetent. They were doing their jobs. As you indicated, if your bike had been stolen, you would have been peeved if they let the guy walk away just because he claimed it was his bike.
We'd all like to have it both ways at times, but life just isn't like that.
In reading the story more closely, I've realized that the police did not take the bike in because of mismatched numbers. They took bikes when the VIN numbers appeared to have been altered or were scratched off/missing.
Well, thanks for the offer, but in reading the article more carefully, I've realized that the police didn't take the bike because the frame and motor VIN numbers didn't match. It was because it appeared to have been altered. Quite a different issue.
The story indicates his bike was impounded because the number of the engine didn’t match the frame.
The story indicated the other bikes had the VIN problems.
Guess he should just be happy he wasn’t tazered.
Also a false issue , and a pretext for seizing a citizens property . Appeared to whom ? The numbers were not in fact altered . I'm done . You want to accept this kind of police work ? Fine
Sorry, doesn’t fly. Appeared to be altered would indicate a non-professional look to it, strange marks or otherwise. From what I could tell, it was a factory stamping. No reason for it to appear altered. Cops were wrong and are back-pedaling.
So, now I’m supposed to ride around with my title all the time???
And what if he’d kept his title in the bike’s document pocket? A lot of bikers do that, especially the “Sunday riders”. The police don’t let you get stuff out of your car or bike in the pound, not even to prove a point, so he’d be screwed. Is that okay with you?
Except that I suspect they *weren’t* altered. What may have happened was that the VIN was stamped in a special style (Harley does that with their special models to keep people from making replicas) and the idiot cops thought it was altered.
No excuse for the cop - if you don’t know what you’re looking at, don’t seize it and figure it out later.
Oh, and on top of that, I think the police owe him reimbursement for lost time, expenses, and for the loss of enjoyment of the MotoGP race.
They make a mistake, they better pay for it. Not seeing anything other than a smug “I’m sorry... (not really)” from that quarter.
By the way, if you do go to the source site and watch the video, it turns out that the bike was towed for “BAD FRAME #”, per the citation, because the VIN number looks hand-done. Well, guess what - a LOT of Harleys have VINs that look like that, and that doesn’t even include the home builts or customs where it really is hand-engraved.
So, basically the cops were idiots and didn’t do their jobs.
They confiscated sixteen stolen crotch rockets, loaded them on the flatbed and hauled them away. It was quite a sight . . .
"Primarily" doesn't cover the case in question. The article doesn't say that Blakemore's VIN appeared altered or scratched off. In fact Blakemore specifically said "He (the policeman) said yes it is. He said the motor and the frame don't match," I'm sure he also had his registration with him which is all the police need to do a title search on the spot. They do it almost every time they pull someone over.
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