The article says that the LEO gave a specific order (lawful, since the LEO is authorized to control traffic). The order was simple: first, ride in a single file and then, when the first order wasn't listened to, get off the road. There is no need to debate those orders as those riders did. You can debate all you want in the courtroom, *after* you complied and then sued the police.
The article takes several pages to tell us that the riders repeatedly failed to stop. In the end the deputy was forced to block the road with his car and fire his Taser. It is possible but minimally believable that the deputy was just messing with those riders out of boredom.
I can accept that the deputy was upset that his orders are ignored, and the situation escalated. But the riders - or anyone else to that matter - upon seeing the lights and hearing the orders should do what they are told, and challenge these orders when they are safe. Telling the LEO "I have a right to be here" and continuing to ride is even technically stupid: the police may even have good reasons to temporarily remove bikes from a certain road. What if there is a vehicle out of control, or a chase, approaching, or an oversized vehicle, or a motorcade?
The entire story, on so many pages, tells us that bike riders see themselves outside of the law. I don't know if they blocked the traffic or not. But they certainly failed to obey lawful orders, repeatedly.
The police doesn't know why they ignored orders to stop. Maybe they were carrying illegal drugs or weapons. Maybe they were riding stolen bikes. Maybe they are criminals in general. Unlikely, of course, but the facts are that they were fleeing the traffic stop. They are lucky that they were only tased. The deputy began with simply advising the riders to let the traffic pass (if that's the truth.) If only they listened, the deputy would be on his way and the incident would be forgotten in minutes. But the riders just had to escalate a minor encounter - which wouldn't even bring them into contact with the deputy - into a full-scale arrest.
With regard to the aftermath, repeated tasing and such, I wasn't there and can't say if it was justified or not. This is something that the police will need to explain.
About the phone: I don't know if the police is supposed to prevent the arrested people (or people being arrested) from calling others. Theoretically that would be understandable, in general - if you arrest one criminal you don't want him to call other criminals. But this should be governed by laws and police instructions.
All in all, I think the police were quite heavy-handed here, but the riders did all in their power to bring it upon them. They deserve each other.
Should a citizen obey an obviously unlawful order from a cop? And because a citizen doesn’t comply should that citizen as a result be beaten, tased, shot and killed, or thrown in jail?