Bike Nazis Beware
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."
Liberals behaving poorly.
Get on a child’s toy and go play in traffic!
As a cyclist, let me be the first to say that Critical Mass is full of whiny pansy ass losers who lacked a father figure growing up.
“Critical Mass”?
Don’t tell me, let me guess, another ACORN affiliate?
Bike Nazis Beware
How to handle ‘Critical Mass’ bicyclers, My experience at Bio 2004:
After moving less than half a block in 20 minutes (one block away from from Moscone), a bunch of bicyclists started riding between the cars, leader with a bull horn, shouting something about taking over the streets.
He had the horn pointed back wards so I didn’t hear him coming. Durn! he got away!
However, I popped my door open in front of the third or so cyclist in the string. (I did look first to make sure he had room to stop).
He screams “You effin’ clymer!!!” (OK, I cleaned it up a little, so sue me...)
I looked up smiled sweetly and said “That makes two of us...”
Totally messed them up. They had to stop and regroup. His buds split leaving him with two young “ladies” to protect him from the mean man in the car. Boo fricking hoo
I closed the door and he started to pass by and continued to berate me. When he was adjacent to the door I popped it open at him, not to hit him, but to persuade him to move along.
He darn near fell off his bike trying to dodge me.
“We’re going to call 911!!!”
“Don’t bother, I’ll call for you” which I did. (The line was busy)
He and the two chicks decided that it was past their collective bedtimes or something and split.
Felt GOOD...
I'm inclined to agree. Nothing against bicyclers, but a lot of them expect everyone else on the road to cater to them. I have a friend who thinks I'm nuts for riding a motorcycle who will creep along the side of a busy two lane here in Ill. Scared the hell out of me.
Operating a vehicle on a public thoroughfare while intoxicated -- that's what this is.
Let 'em pay a road taxes, either directly or through registering for a public-thoroughfare cycling license.
"Right to the road"? Sure, on a level with everybody else -- responsibilities as well as rights.
Not as stupid as getting paid millions to dress up in a costume and throw a ball in a billion dollar climate controlled stadium.
Cycling is one of the few sports left with real “hard men” in it. The NFL/MLB/NBA should just start handing out mandatory tiaras.
Drunk driving is dangerous.
Drunk cycling is suicidal.
I’m guessing a small percentage of these were professional troublemakers who just happened to own a bike.
Ditto.
Sigh.
I consider Critical Mass to be an enemy of the cycling community. In claiming to demand respect for cyclists, they get in everyone elses face, including pedestrians, including mass transit users (blocking buses). There was an incident last summer in Minneapolis where the behavior was approaching that of the San Franscisco Critical Massers - known to be quite violent. And Minneapolis mayor R T Rybak participates in the Critical Mass rides.
I am a competitive cyclist. You would think that a sport that depends a lot on individual effort and an awful lot of training (even at an amateur masters level) would have a lot of participants who are at least somewhat libertarian. Instead, many of the participants here are far left barking moonbats. Makes me sometimes consider getting rid of the bikes, bloat to 400#, and run them off the road with the SUV.
Bike Fascists
Exactly. Critical Mass riders are the same idiots protesting G8 summits, inciting violence at Town Hall meetings, and disrupting conservative speakers at colleges across the US.
Everyone I ride with values freedom, diversity of thought and action and that very nature makes a supermajority of them conservatives.
For some reason liberals are attracted to bicycles as a form of mass transportation. Probably their longing to be European.
It seems that any time these liberal folks get together enmasse they think that the rule of law no longer applies to them and feel they can do as they please. It's as if they confuse mass groupings with majority rule.
The Ogden police acted just like the Cambridge or any other police department would act. They followed established legal procedure, something that just pisses liberals off.
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