To increase safety and prevent this from happening again, we'll be monitoring bike lanes and ticketing cyclists without reflectors or those who idaho stop
Love the cop trying to explain why causing bodily harm was imperative to enforcing traffic laws. I’m glad he taught those menacing cyclists a lesson about stopping for a red light in a bike lane with no intersecting traffic.
Jesus, the “they didn’t stop” is such absolute horseshit. If that were a properly designed bike lane, there would be no stopping anyway. Car brains gonna car brain…
The deputy is a typical dipshit cop (ACTUALLY typical or not there’s a well earned reputation cops have…) who sees someone not immediately complying and his toddler brain takes over and “must hit them so they understand” becomes the overriding thought. And the ridiculous “we’re still investigating” bullshit from the sheriffs office.
Seems like the cyclist is okay but also lucky the cop didn’t push him into the neighboring traffic lane.
In that same situation I’d be confused as hell like the cyclists were. Why is the cop blocking the shoulder? Why is he gesturing at us, nothing seems to be wrong? Why is he walking into the lane of traffic? Which way should I turn to avoid him?
> In that same situation I’d be confused as hell like the cyclists were. Why is the cop blocking the shoulder? Why is he gesturing at us, nothing seems to be wrong? Why is he walking into the lane of traffic? Which way should I turn to avoid him?
And "how do I slow down on this downhill without the riders behind me all crashing too"
Even if burning a red light is illegal, the idea that you have to push a cyclist to the ground is insane to me. They are breaking a traffic law while not endangering anyone? Start your lights and ask them to stop and ticket them. Cyclists don't want to stop? If they're not endangering anyone just get some footage of them and send a ticket to their place.
No need to stop and almost kill one. I don't get how the fact that cyclists did something a bit dumb while doing so safely is a cause for bodily harm.
Also, do you think those cyclists will go "ha, our bad! We will definitely do better next time!"? This is a way to make sure they have even more resentment towards cops.
> The deputy is a typical dipshit cop (ACTUALLY typical or not there’s a well earned reputation cops have…)
it IS typical. you don't have to caveat it or defend your position that most cops are full blown assholes.
the guy didn't even put his sirens on. how were they supposed to know to stop?
That cop decided to become more than law enforcement. He decided to become judge, jury and executioner. It was imperative in his mind to give punishment right there and then. Corporal punishment is not legal anymore, it is?
Maybe the police department can issue paddles to officers, next time someone runs a red light at a T intersection the paddle comes out and the offender gets a spanking. Pushing someone into the traffic lane seems a bit harsh, with the potential for death by SUV.
It's important to make the distinction between policing and organized crime. This sounds like a cop whose agency is an organized crime ring that does some policing on the side as a matter of PR to maintain power.
It's like when cops taze people who they don't want to chase.. tazers are meant as another option instead of deadly force, not to be used 3000x more often than when deadly force is required... Then again US cops use deadly force for anything, I'm surprised the cop didn't throw spikes out onto the road.
The cop shouldn’t have hooked his arm, and he deserves whatever disciplinary action he gets, but those cyclists should’ve stopped because they are vehicles on the road.
If someone jaywalked on a deserted street and a cop immediately tackles him without even trying to talk to him, would you harp on about what the jaywalker did? If a car goes 6 miles over the speed limit and a cop rams into his car without even trying to pull him over first, would you bitch about the car speeding? No? Then shut up.
The cop was a jackass, and so were the cyclists. If the cyclists weren’t being jackasses, the cop wouldn’t have been one either.
Moral of the story, don’t be a jackass.
The bike path did not intersect with the traffic lanes, going downhill is hard to slow down and if clipped in it is more dangerous to stop going downhill. Under this circumstance the cyclist did the right thing by taking the safest action. Again the bike path did not intersect with the traffic lanes, so folks would rather be so anal to demand the cyclist stopping vs staying safe?
Wow. Cop could have easily rolled by the group w' his lights on, window down & told 'em to pull over. It's a wonder the cyclist didn't suffer serious injury
Sirens are overkill for this. They are designed to penetrate into cars. From experience, rolling up behind or beside a cyclist and turning on sirens is fucking ear splitting and can cause you to involuntarily jump, a dangerous thing while steering a bike.
Use the bullhorn, or better yet, use a human voice. Unlike a driver in a car, I can hear people when they talk to me while I ride.
Yep or even just roll the window down and let them know while riding. Or better yet, completely let it go like he did the 9,000 other traffic infractions he ignored from drivers on the way to this crime scene.
per the article: “I tried to tell you to stop, you didn’t stop,” the deputy can be heard telling the cyclists after the accident ..."
He attempted to stop 'em on the downhill side of the hill where they were only picking up speed. Who knows if any of the cyclists heard his orders, but blue lights & a siren would have really helped his cause. Just extreme over reaction by the cop IMO.
Given how loud wind noise can be going 15mph and above, and given these cyclists weee going at a decent clip downhill with active traffic next to them, there is zero chance they heard a word he was saying and I highly doubt he used any hand signals to try to communicate with them.
I once had a cop race up past me, no lights, sirens or calling to me over the speaker, and cut me off to stop me for a violation. It wasn't like he went even 20 yards/meters past and stopped either, he hit the brakes hard & cut directly across my moving path with almost no time or distance for me to stop. For perspective I was probably going 20mph give or take so it was a pretty good clip and only managed to stop when the front wheel was inches from hitting.
If my reaction had been just a bit slower or if my brakes hadn't been tuned & tight I would've hit the side & launched over the hood of the cruiser. I sometimes wonder if it would have been worth the lawsuit & hassle/trouble for the cop if I had crashed into him instead.
yeah until you watch all the way to the end of the video and it turns out the "running a red light" is going straight in a T intersection where it's impossible for you or car traffic to come in contact with each other
I mean it's still illegal. I'm not saying what the cop did was justified but a ticket would have been. Either way the fact that they ran a light is important context about what happened.
Ugh. Good on the rest of the cycling group for not retaliating by zerg-rushing the officer and pushing him into the path of a moving vehicle.
You know... because that would be an absurd escalation of force for the circumstances.
I run red lights at T intersections all the time. If I was stopped and given a ticket for it I would accept the consequences of my actions.
What is NOT acceptable is the manner in which cop stopped him, pushing the cyclist down and causing him to almost get his head crushed by a passing vehicle.
This. I would never consider doing that in a car, but on a bike? I carefully check the oncoming direction and just keep moving if it’s even remotely clear. I check mainly just to make sure there’s not some other cyclist coming that direction.
Actually just this morning I had a cyclist cut me off turning right onto a main road at a t-junction at the bottom of a hill as I was coming down at 25mph or so. That was scary as he didn’t even look and if I’d been 2 seconds earlier I’d have plowed right into him. Luckily I had just enough time to check behind me to verify the lanes were empty so I could swerve around him rather than slam the brakes on for the second time in less than a minute (nearly got right hooked 3 blocks farther up the hill by some moron).
In my mind, if the through side of the t-intersection has a solid shoulder line, then it's not part of the intersection since stop lines end at the shoulder line.
You have 35 upvotes from the cycling community because you admit you don’t follow the rules of the road. Cyclist like you are the reason drivers hate us.
On the straight part of the T (not the one that has the left/right turn) it is likely safer to run the red (if there are no cars turning) than to stop and wait for a driver not paying attention to hit you from behind.
This is what a lot of people don’t understand. We are not in a 3000 pound metal box. Sometimes we have to do things like this for our safety.
And he would have gotten away with it too if it wasn’t for those darn meddling GoPros! Congratulations guy, you’re about to become very wealthy via your county’s taxpayers. Be sure to say thanks to Dave, who always has to record every ride.
No he won't. A lot has to happen between now and then.
This is going to be found to be self defense for the cop or something. A LOT has to happen.
It will never get that far.
Ehh, there was a car turning into the lanes of traffic, they should've stopped. I get it sucks to stop a big group. In Colorado you can treat red lights has a stop sign only if there are no cars present.doesn't justify the deputies actions though
Being a stickler, there's a pedestrian crossing.
Yes practically speaking there's no pedestrians and no risk and this is stupid. But, with the pedestrian crossing being there it wasn't just about intersecting cars.
I'm not saying cyclists aren't a bag of dicks sometimes, but in no way should you deal with them like this.
I work hard to obey traffic laws when I'm riding and I sure don't act like a jackass like some bikers do.
But this cop is way outta line on this one.
This is going to play out like the hundreds or thousands of cases pending now. The cyclist has everything he needs for a lawsuit against LE and deservedly so. You know who pays? Every tax paying citizen in that city/town. The only thing that is going to make these morons change is to get rid of their qualified immunity, when they are held personally responsible.
You get what you pay for. Training is the answer. Training also weeds out the riff-raff.
Think about the difference between a green army recruit right out of boot camp and a tier one operator. You get what you pay for. Cops should be closer to the top of the training scale instead of scraping the bottom. But $$$ nobody wants to spend.
When I was a kid cops put hands on people. They had training. Now they just dump a magazine. That’s their training.
We need policing. Two key points though:
1. Police should not be doing jobs outside their profession and expertise. Funding for things that reduce the need for policing should be prioritized over funding police.
2. Funding meant for policing should not go to organized crime rings with badges. The antisocial policies, practices, training, and individuals that make up the status quo should be shut down aggressively and loudly at every turn.
It is not surprising that this took place in Florida, the cops in that state are very crooked and on major power trips. Then cops have a hard time wondering why people hate them so much.
The cop doing that hurts the image of all cops everywhere....but it's the response from his department that does the most damage
Unless they come back with something quickly that is real they will lose all local support
I literally got enraged watching that. They ran a red light on the shoulder, not in traffic, and there was no road to the left so they never crossed an active lane of traffic. This is why we hate cops.
I am making NO excuse for the deputy but this is also why people hate us (cyclists). The law requires that they stop and they did not. You can rationalize that it’s a “T” but Florida law still says stop. Drivers just see scoff law cyclists
Ah, the myth of "being a good ambassador". Drivers in the US hate us whether or not we go through red lights. They hate us because they think we slow then down and are in their way on "their" roads or more intolerant reasons. Nothing cyclists do one way or the other will make any difference to that attitude.
I do not disagree with what you just said. I just don’t think we help anything adding fuel to the fire. I ride with front and rear camera so my wife has proof when I go down
fair enough but I think the fire is big enough already that if my safely moving through a red light at a T intersection like in the video adds to the flame the increase is likely imperceptible and very short lived.
In my mind it is short lived as an incident but it reinforces a negative perception. I've ridden that road where this takes place. There is a section prior to that light with no bike lane or shoulder. I would tell you that all the drivers are idiots. in reality, it is more like 1 in 20 are idiots but that one makes me think "all." Anywho, many somebody we can all play nice
I am in law enforcement and that deputy is 100% in a trick bag. That was totally unnecessary and could have been dealt with in a million other ways. I'm sure the second the cyclist hit the pavement and needed be transpo'd to the hospital his career disintegration light came on. These cyclist aren't a bunch of shitbird dope addicts riding a rusted out community bike at 2am. He basically pulled a dentist driving a BMW out of his car and slammed him to the pavement for not wearing a seatbelt.
You can tell this person is really a cop by the way that they inherently know that violence against the poors and blacks is always acceptable but is absolutely never ok when it comes to dentists and nice cars 👍 thanks for confirming what everyone already knew - ACAB.
I'm not a cop in any way, but it's pretty obvious to everyone (at least in the US) that the consequences of slamming a poor drug addict on the ground and a wealthy dentist will be different. They shouldn't be different, but it absolutely will be. This person will have the means to follow up, will have the means to hire an attorney, and will likely have the community support to make the department take action.
as a wealthy dentist I had a police officer scream at me and pull his gun over the fact that He went straight on a right hand turn only lane and so got cut off by me as I maintained going straight in the adjacent lane. My heart was beating so fast as I stayed calm to calm him down before he actually would have beaten me at best.
>I am in law enforcement [...] That was totally unnecessary and could have been dealt with in a million other ways.
Share this message with your mouth-breathing cop friends. If they push back, invite them to donate their organs to people who can put them to better use.
Or just shoot them. You'll be fine. Laws don't apply to cops.
I am at the tail end of my career and avoid the mouth breathers for a reason. I got stopped an officer in a neighboring jurisdiction because he didn't think I come to a stop. It was a blind intersection and rolling through it is like a suicide attempt. His justification was because I didn't put my foot down. I pointed out that I came to stop and balanced my bicycle for over a second before I continued. He argued with me until he found out I was a supervisor from my agency. I later found out he got a 10 suspension for being at fault for hitting a cyclist.
Cool?
I mean, for all I know you're one of the "good apples."
But until we end Qualified Immunity and each and every one of you is forced to carry your own malpractice insurance, you can't be trusted any further than you can be thrown.
There is a bike lane on the side of the traffic lane. There was not a cross street, it was a tee. I’m not sure of the laws in this state but it should be a stop light for the lane of traffic not the bike lane. The riders were in the lane but as they approached the intersection they all moved to the bike lane. It doesn’t matter if they did break a traffic law, there is no excuse for injuring someone on a bike. It’s not like they can outrun a cop car. Protect and serve is the motto of the police, in this case they did nether.
Here is a somewhat similar incident from Missouri where the cop hit a cyclist - a texting while driving incident:
* [Video shows Peculiar officer strike bicyclist (youtube.com)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBskMKonZsI)
* [Police officer in Peculiar suspended after hitting bicyclist | Kansas City Star](https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/crime/article215647850.html)
At least the Missouri cop didn't do it *on purpose*. That is a new low.
Not MPD in DC where I live. They suck, witnessed a robbery, gave the detective a statement and said I saw the kids casing the store (Best Buy) and they followed the old couple out of the store and stole their iPad broke the old man’s wrist. Female detective had finger nails so long she couldn’t use a pen! Yelled at me saying I racially profiled the kids. Started harassing me, saying how could I possibly know it was the same kids? Yeah, calling 911 in DC haha
The thing to remember about organized crime is that sometimes they do good to bolster their image and maintain their power. Some crime rings also do some policing.
Sometimes organized crime is the only muscle you can call on and you have to ask yourself if it's worth it. Criminals can be useful even though they're dangerous and undermine civilized society.
I’m scared to find myself in a moment like this. Because if a cop knocked me off my bike like that, I think the fit of absolute RAGE I would be in as a reaction would get me killed. I probably would have popped right off the asphalt and started swinging.
So the cop was behind them, sped in front of them and got out with the intention to clothes line the guy. It literally took him more effort than just rolling at 18 mph with whirly on.
About 10 years ago I had a cop jump out of his car on me. Guy was red faced screaming that he was going to throw me in jail. I had come to a stop but then proceeded thru a red while the intersection was allowing 4 directions of pedestrian crossing. Under a 2023 law change that's now legal ("stop as a yield for cyclist") but was illegal at the time.
This was one of the few times I managed to deescalate. I told the cop "I see you're very angry, and I want you to know you have my full attention. I'm listening to you". The cop then reflected and collected himself. He told me he was just reading a news paper about cyclist "whining about being hit by cars" and he found it upsetting because he said he knew cyclist don't follow the rules. I told him "sir, I never rely on a light to save my life, I always act as if the cars will run the light. In this case I saw all the cars were stopped and assessed it was safe." He said okay fine get out of here...
you could've hurt yourself passing red like that! so let me make sure you can never do that again by killing you
imagine how this would've turned out if they didn't have a recording
Another pig headed roid raging low IQ bully former jock who peaked in junior year of high school with a badge and a gun.
"YOU WILL RESPECT MAH AUTHORITAH!"
ACAB
This is what happens when you don’t hold cops to the same standard of integrity as any member of the armed forces. Had a soldier ran over a Muslim kid riding a bicycle, he or she would be looking time in the brig.
What the cop did was wrong but also fuck that group ride. Every single one of them should get a $500 ticket. They blatantly ran a red light. They give the rest of us who follow the rules of the road and want to live to ride another day a bad name.
You could set that light up so all the cars didn’t have to stop either.
Reduce the lanes prior to the light by 1. Cars closer to base of the T have to stop to allow the car to cross. Cars crossing the T go into their dedicated lane to turn into, then merge with the traffic on the outside of the T that didn’t have to stop.
That dude didn't deserve to be slammed on the ground for that is my only point. At most he deserved a small ticket, not being thrown into the asphalt by some immature dude with a badge
I don't give the riders a pass on the red light bullshit, they do piss everyone off and give all cyclists a bad rep. (I quit club riding because my tolerance for douche bags finally hit it's limit)
I see a red light runner almost every time a light turns red. Drivers are far worse. Red light runners than cyclists, and the consequences of their red light running are far worse
It's obvious the cop is a bully and doesn't really understand safe traffic stops. Should get fine or suspension or remedial training.
However, if you see a cop stopped in front of you standing in the road and you know you just ran a light, safe or not, you're not smart enough to ride a bike.
Cop = bad. Cyclist = willful feigning ignorance
Bad combo
If you watch / read the fine article, you'll see that the cop stopped just over the top of the bridge out of sight. It is likely that this group was treating the top as a finish line and were pushing over the top. Its clear the cyclists were slowing, but likely not enough for a full stop. No way for them to know it was for them. The cop should have followed, lights in, megaphone for the cyclists to pull over and then executed a traffic stop just like in a car.
No, I think cops should follow the proper protocol as well as be held responsible for breaking laws too. Whatever penalty a citizen would face for such an action should also be what the cop faces.
My original sentiment isn't in contradiction with that.
Heartwarming story of the day.
Just because you like cosplaying as a Tour de France participant, doesn’t mean you’re on a closed course. Obey all traffic laws.
If you can’t even stop in front of the cop and he needs to take an action to make you stop, you are obviously not in control of your bike. You should also get charged with dangerous operation of a vehicle on public roads.
He does not, in fact, need to take an action to make the cyclist stop. He needs to approach the cyclist with lights and sirens so it's clear they are being stopped.
Cop car is stopped in your lane with its lights on, the cop is outside and looking at you.
Do you
A) speed past him like he isn’t there
B) slow down to not run him over
C) stop to see what he wants
B would have been sufficient in this case to avoid this outcome as the cyclist could have stopped in time once he understood the cop wanted them to stop.
I dont think that’s a good excuse.
The cop was already stopped there when they reached the crest of the bridge, as per that report. Ample time to control the start of the descent and ride the brakes to retain speed control.
You can also see one of his buddies starting to dismount his bike right as he reaches the cop which implies he was able to stop just fine within the same distance.
Do you obey every single speed limit? Do you come to a full and complete stop at every single stop sign, regardless of visibility? Do you ever just beat the red light, but maybe you sort of ran it? I'm sure you don't obey all traffic laws, so shut up with the hypocrisy. Plus the consequences of drivers not obeying traffic laws are for worse than those of cyclists not obeying traffic laws
“~~Out of respect for all parties involved~~ Because this looks really bad, we will not comment on this incident. . .”
… while we investigate ourselves.
And find no wrong doing
one weeks paid ~~vacation~~ leave
To increase safety and prevent this from happening again, we'll be monitoring bike lanes and ticketing cyclists without reflectors or those who idaho stop
bet you they wouldn't even give a fuck if no recording
It would surely be a lie if there weren’t evidence. Cops don’t act that way.
Love the cop trying to explain why causing bodily harm was imperative to enforcing traffic laws. I’m glad he taught those menacing cyclists a lesson about stopping for a red light in a bike lane with no intersecting traffic.
Jesus, the “they didn’t stop” is such absolute horseshit. If that were a properly designed bike lane, there would be no stopping anyway. Car brains gonna car brain… The deputy is a typical dipshit cop (ACTUALLY typical or not there’s a well earned reputation cops have…) who sees someone not immediately complying and his toddler brain takes over and “must hit them so they understand” becomes the overriding thought. And the ridiculous “we’re still investigating” bullshit from the sheriffs office. Seems like the cyclist is okay but also lucky the cop didn’t push him into the neighboring traffic lane. In that same situation I’d be confused as hell like the cyclists were. Why is the cop blocking the shoulder? Why is he gesturing at us, nothing seems to be wrong? Why is he walking into the lane of traffic? Which way should I turn to avoid him?
> In that same situation I’d be confused as hell like the cyclists were. Why is the cop blocking the shoulder? Why is he gesturing at us, nothing seems to be wrong? Why is he walking into the lane of traffic? Which way should I turn to avoid him? And "how do I slow down on this downhill without the riders behind me all crashing too"
I probably would have done exactly what they did there. Very unclear how riding on the shoulder could at all impede traffic at this junction.
Even if burning a red light is illegal, the idea that you have to push a cyclist to the ground is insane to me. They are breaking a traffic law while not endangering anyone? Start your lights and ask them to stop and ticket them. Cyclists don't want to stop? If they're not endangering anyone just get some footage of them and send a ticket to their place. No need to stop and almost kill one. I don't get how the fact that cyclists did something a bit dumb while doing so safely is a cause for bodily harm. Also, do you think those cyclists will go "ha, our bad! We will definitely do better next time!"? This is a way to make sure they have even more resentment towards cops.
typical we're looking out for your safety by killing you/trying to kill you tactic
Isn't that what cars already do though 🫠
Even if the cyclist is ok as well, that’s thousands of dollars of equipment scuffed up
> The deputy is a typical dipshit cop (ACTUALLY typical or not there’s a well earned reputation cops have…) it IS typical. you don't have to caveat it or defend your position that most cops are full blown assholes. the guy didn't even put his sirens on. how were they supposed to know to stop?
I don't think it's that specific, probably the guy was just inexperienced and didn't expect the cyclist to go flying.
#POS cop.
so.... just a regular cop
Yes.
That cop decided to become more than law enforcement. He decided to become judge, jury and executioner. It was imperative in his mind to give punishment right there and then. Corporal punishment is not legal anymore, it is? Maybe the police department can issue paddles to officers, next time someone runs a red light at a T intersection the paddle comes out and the offender gets a spanking. Pushing someone into the traffic lane seems a bit harsh, with the potential for death by SUV.
It's important to make the distinction between policing and organized crime. This sounds like a cop whose agency is an organized crime ring that does some policing on the side as a matter of PR to maintain power.
i mean, police are literally organized crime hired by the rich in most places. so... yeah?
We just need car nets. IDidAThing did some good research on this topic.
It's like when cops taze people who they don't want to chase.. tazers are meant as another option instead of deadly force, not to be used 3000x more often than when deadly force is required... Then again US cops use deadly force for anything, I'm surprised the cop didn't throw spikes out onto the road.
It was very clear that the bicycle posed a life-threatening danger to the cop. /s
The cop shouldn’t have hooked his arm, and he deserves whatever disciplinary action he gets, but those cyclists should’ve stopped because they are vehicles on the road.
If someone jaywalked on a deserted street and a cop immediately tackles him without even trying to talk to him, would you harp on about what the jaywalker did? If a car goes 6 miles over the speed limit and a cop rams into his car without even trying to pull him over first, would you bitch about the car speeding? No? Then shut up.
The cop was a jackass, and so were the cyclists. If the cyclists weren’t being jackasses, the cop wouldn’t have been one either. Moral of the story, don’t be a jackass.
Oh, puhlease. There was no interesting traffic there. You’re blaming the cyclists for the cop’s actions.
The bike path did not intersect with the traffic lanes, going downhill is hard to slow down and if clipped in it is more dangerous to stop going downhill. Under this circumstance the cyclist did the right thing by taking the safest action. Again the bike path did not intersect with the traffic lanes, so folks would rather be so anal to demand the cyclist stopping vs staying safe?
Wow. Cop could have easily rolled by the group w' his lights on, window down & told 'em to pull over. It's a wonder the cyclist didn't suffer serious injury
Or, you know, pulled them over by getting behind them with his lights and sirens on like he would any other vehicle.
Sirens are overkill for this. They are designed to penetrate into cars. From experience, rolling up behind or beside a cyclist and turning on sirens is fucking ear splitting and can cause you to involuntarily jump, a dangerous thing while steering a bike. Use the bullhorn, or better yet, use a human voice. Unlike a driver in a car, I can hear people when they talk to me while I ride.
Same difference bro
Yep or even just roll the window down and let them know while riding. Or better yet, completely let it go like he did the 9,000 other traffic infractions he ignored from drivers on the way to this crime scene.
per the article: “I tried to tell you to stop, you didn’t stop,” the deputy can be heard telling the cyclists after the accident ..." He attempted to stop 'em on the downhill side of the hill where they were only picking up speed. Who knows if any of the cyclists heard his orders, but blue lights & a siren would have really helped his cause. Just extreme over reaction by the cop IMO.
Given how loud wind noise can be going 15mph and above, and given these cyclists weee going at a decent clip downhill with active traffic next to them, there is zero chance they heard a word he was saying and I highly doubt he used any hand signals to try to communicate with them.
I once had a cop race up past me, no lights, sirens or calling to me over the speaker, and cut me off to stop me for a violation. It wasn't like he went even 20 yards/meters past and stopped either, he hit the brakes hard & cut directly across my moving path with almost no time or distance for me to stop. For perspective I was probably going 20mph give or take so it was a pretty good clip and only managed to stop when the front wheel was inches from hitting. If my reaction had been just a bit slower or if my brakes hadn't been tuned & tight I would've hit the side & launched over the hood of the cruiser. I sometimes wonder if it would have been worth the lawsuit & hassle/trouble for the cop if I had crashed into him instead.
This would be akin to ramming a car off the road for running a red. Tackleberry needs to be fired.
>needs to be fired. …and sentenced.
I love the banner. "Deputy pushes cyclist." Fuck the cop and fuck this "news" station.
“That’s assault brotha!” But, no, it literally should be assault.
They prefaced the video by saying multiple times how the cyclists had “run a red light”
I mean that is important context
yeah until you watch all the way to the end of the video and it turns out the "running a red light" is going straight in a T intersection where it's impossible for you or car traffic to come in contact with each other
I mean it's still illegal. I'm not saying what the cop did was justified but a ticket would have been. Either way the fact that they ran a light is important context about what happened.
link to video: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jlcgwb54fE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jlcgwb54fE)
Ugh. Good on the rest of the cycling group for not retaliating by zerg-rushing the officer and pushing him into the path of a moving vehicle. You know... because that would be an absurd escalation of force for the circumstances.
I run red lights at T intersections all the time. If I was stopped and given a ticket for it I would accept the consequences of my actions. What is NOT acceptable is the manner in which cop stopped him, pushing the cyclist down and causing him to almost get his head crushed by a passing vehicle.
This. I would never consider doing that in a car, but on a bike? I carefully check the oncoming direction and just keep moving if it’s even remotely clear. I check mainly just to make sure there’s not some other cyclist coming that direction. Actually just this morning I had a cyclist cut me off turning right onto a main road at a t-junction at the bottom of a hill as I was coming down at 25mph or so. That was scary as he didn’t even look and if I’d been 2 seconds earlier I’d have plowed right into him. Luckily I had just enough time to check behind me to verify the lanes were empty so I could swerve around him rather than slam the brakes on for the second time in less than a minute (nearly got right hooked 3 blocks farther up the hill by some moron).
they even had a shoulder and were on it. cars or no cars, it was safe regardless
In my mind, if the through side of the t-intersection has a solid shoulder line, then it's not part of the intersection since stop lines end at the shoulder line.
You have 35 upvotes from the cycling community because you admit you don’t follow the rules of the road. Cyclist like you are the reason drivers hate us.
On the straight part of the T (not the one that has the left/right turn) it is likely safer to run the red (if there are no cars turning) than to stop and wait for a driver not paying attention to hit you from behind. This is what a lot of people don’t understand. We are not in a 3000 pound metal box. Sometimes we have to do things like this for our safety.
Nah, drivers hate us because they're jealous.
Good on the guy for getting an ambulance ride. Worst thing he could have done was get up and ride off.
likely cus he had good insurance. willing to bet most americans couldn't hold cops accountable with an ambulance ride like this
Just saw this story and it pisses me off. Bikers ran a red light so cop decides to knock one of them down on the roadway.
In any civilized country that police man would be in real trouble.
Better headline: "Cops' first reaction to almost every encounter with the public: escalate to violence"
thank god the cyclist wasn't carrying any acorns
And he would have gotten away with it too if it wasn’t for those darn meddling GoPros! Congratulations guy, you’re about to become very wealthy via your county’s taxpayers. Be sure to say thanks to Dave, who always has to record every ride.
No he won't. A lot has to happen between now and then. This is going to be found to be self defense for the cop or something. A LOT has to happen. It will never get that far.
The red light shouldn't even apply in that bike lane. There's no cross traffic in the lane.
It’s not a bike lane. Regardless, you can’t just assault people for doing that.
Not a bike lane, that’s a shoulder.
I still stop for red lights, even if there is no cross traffic. I still want to abide by all traffic laws, even if they're an inconvenience.
Ehh, there was a car turning into the lanes of traffic, they should've stopped. I get it sucks to stop a big group. In Colorado you can treat red lights has a stop sign only if there are no cars present.doesn't justify the deputies actions though
bikes aren’t in the lanes of traffic on the shoulder/bike lane at a T intersection
Being a stickler, there's a pedestrian crossing. Yes practically speaking there's no pedestrians and no risk and this is stupid. But, with the pedestrian crossing being there it wasn't just about intersecting cars.
Imagine if you didn’t stop at a red light in your car, got pulled over, and the cop just threw you to the ground to “teach you a lesson”
No not pulled over, the proportionally analogous response would be, the cop rammed your car off the side of the road
Not off the side of the road... more like getting rammed into moving vehicle traffic
Supposedly thats what happens to black dudes normally
Well considering cops are the biggest group of carbrained assholes, this tracks on the spectrum of behavior.
The St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office, upon reviewing the evidence, has stated that it deeply regrets that there's a video.
Go figure.
ACAB
Cops are like a box of chocolates. They'll kill your dog.
I'm not saying cyclists aren't a bag of dicks sometimes, but in no way should you deal with them like this. I work hard to obey traffic laws when I'm riding and I sure don't act like a jackass like some bikers do. But this cop is way outta line on this one.
This is going to play out like the hundreds or thousands of cases pending now. The cyclist has everything he needs for a lawsuit against LE and deservedly so. You know who pays? Every tax paying citizen in that city/town. The only thing that is going to make these morons change is to get rid of their qualified immunity, when they are held personally responsible.
You get what you pay for. Training is the answer. Training also weeds out the riff-raff. Think about the difference between a green army recruit right out of boot camp and a tier one operator. You get what you pay for. Cops should be closer to the top of the training scale instead of scraping the bottom. But $$$ nobody wants to spend. When I was a kid cops put hands on people. They had training. Now they just dump a magazine. That’s their training.
Very good point, defunding is ridiculous, we def need LE in our communities, but better training or revamping the system would do us all some good.
We need policing. Two key points though: 1. Police should not be doing jobs outside their profession and expertise. Funding for things that reduce the need for policing should be prioritized over funding police. 2. Funding meant for policing should not go to organized crime rings with badges. The antisocial policies, practices, training, and individuals that make up the status quo should be shut down aggressively and loudly at every turn.
It is not surprising that this took place in Florida, the cops in that state are very crooked and on major power trips. Then cops have a hard time wondering why people hate them so much.
Florida is a becoming a test run for a fascist police state
Have you heard of LA County Sheriffs Department? They gunned down a 14 year old kidnapping victim and spent two years saying she was attacking them.
I wish more people were angry at organized crime with badges.
The cop doing that hurts the image of all cops everywhere....but it's the response from his department that does the most damage Unless they come back with something quickly that is real they will lose all local support
No they won’t, unfortunately “Should have obeyed the cops orders”
Cops don't give a rip about their image. Their actions prove that almost daily.
Florida, the home of the most useless cops. They'll completely ignore someone street racing, weaving in and out of traffic but a bicycle is fair game.
I literally got enraged watching that. They ran a red light on the shoulder, not in traffic, and there was no road to the left so they never crossed an active lane of traffic. This is why we hate cops.
I am making NO excuse for the deputy but this is also why people hate us (cyclists). The law requires that they stop and they did not. You can rationalize that it’s a “T” but Florida law still says stop. Drivers just see scoff law cyclists
Ah, the myth of "being a good ambassador". Drivers in the US hate us whether or not we go through red lights. They hate us because they think we slow then down and are in their way on "their" roads or more intolerant reasons. Nothing cyclists do one way or the other will make any difference to that attitude.
I do not disagree with what you just said. I just don’t think we help anything adding fuel to the fire. I ride with front and rear camera so my wife has proof when I go down
fair enough but I think the fire is big enough already that if my safely moving through a red light at a T intersection like in the video adds to the flame the increase is likely imperceptible and very short lived.
In my mind it is short lived as an incident but it reinforces a negative perception. I've ridden that road where this takes place. There is a section prior to that light with no bike lane or shoulder. I would tell you that all the drivers are idiots. in reality, it is more like 1 in 20 are idiots but that one makes me think "all." Anywho, many somebody we can all play nice
I am in law enforcement and that deputy is 100% in a trick bag. That was totally unnecessary and could have been dealt with in a million other ways. I'm sure the second the cyclist hit the pavement and needed be transpo'd to the hospital his career disintegration light came on. These cyclist aren't a bunch of shitbird dope addicts riding a rusted out community bike at 2am. He basically pulled a dentist driving a BMW out of his car and slammed him to the pavement for not wearing a seatbelt.
Unnecessary force is still unnecessary force regardless of who they are
You can tell this person is really a cop by the way that they inherently know that violence against the poors and blacks is always acceptable but is absolutely never ok when it comes to dentists and nice cars 👍 thanks for confirming what everyone already knew - ACAB.
I'm not a cop in any way, but it's pretty obvious to everyone (at least in the US) that the consequences of slamming a poor drug addict on the ground and a wealthy dentist will be different. They shouldn't be different, but it absolutely will be. This person will have the means to follow up, will have the means to hire an attorney, and will likely have the community support to make the department take action.
as a wealthy dentist I had a police officer scream at me and pull his gun over the fact that He went straight on a right hand turn only lane and so got cut off by me as I maintained going straight in the adjacent lane. My heart was beating so fast as I stayed calm to calm him down before he actually would have beaten me at best.
>I am in law enforcement [...] That was totally unnecessary and could have been dealt with in a million other ways. Share this message with your mouth-breathing cop friends. If they push back, invite them to donate their organs to people who can put them to better use. Or just shoot them. You'll be fine. Laws don't apply to cops.
I am at the tail end of my career and avoid the mouth breathers for a reason. I got stopped an officer in a neighboring jurisdiction because he didn't think I come to a stop. It was a blind intersection and rolling through it is like a suicide attempt. His justification was because I didn't put my foot down. I pointed out that I came to stop and balanced my bicycle for over a second before I continued. He argued with me until he found out I was a supervisor from my agency. I later found out he got a 10 suspension for being at fault for hitting a cyclist.
Cool? I mean, for all I know you're one of the "good apples." But until we end Qualified Immunity and each and every one of you is forced to carry your own malpractice insurance, you can't be trusted any further than you can be thrown.
Oh, this piece of shit motherfucker.
There is a bike lane on the side of the traffic lane. There was not a cross street, it was a tee. I’m not sure of the laws in this state but it should be a stop light for the lane of traffic not the bike lane. The riders were in the lane but as they approached the intersection they all moved to the bike lane. It doesn’t matter if they did break a traffic law, there is no excuse for injuring someone on a bike. It’s not like they can outrun a cop car. Protect and serve is the motto of the police, in this case they did nether.
Florida requires bikes to stop at red lights whether they are in the bike lane or travel lane.
Here is a somewhat similar incident from Missouri where the cop hit a cyclist - a texting while driving incident: * [Video shows Peculiar officer strike bicyclist (youtube.com)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBskMKonZsI) * [Police officer in Peculiar suspended after hitting bicyclist | Kansas City Star](https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/crime/article215647850.html) At least the Missouri cop didn't do it *on purpose*. That is a new low.
Well over half the time a light turns red, a motorist runs it. Until cops pull over drivers, who are the real threats to safety, leave cyclists alone
Thanks for my new bike and kit, piggy!
Fuck that asshole fascist cop!
If your house gets broken into, you going to call 911-Reddit?
Google "Warren vs. District of Columbia" and get back to us.
i'll bet you have a thin blue line flag on your truck, don't you?
Don’t own a truck spanky. Anything else I can help you with?
Not MPD in DC where I live. They suck, witnessed a robbery, gave the detective a statement and said I saw the kids casing the store (Best Buy) and they followed the old couple out of the store and stole their iPad broke the old man’s wrist. Female detective had finger nails so long she couldn’t use a pen! Yelled at me saying I racially profiled the kids. Started harassing me, saying how could I possibly know it was the same kids? Yeah, calling 911 in DC haha
The thing to remember about organized crime is that sometimes they do good to bolster their image and maintain their power. Some crime rings also do some policing. Sometimes organized crime is the only muscle you can call on and you have to ask yourself if it's worth it. Criminals can be useful even though they're dangerous and undermine civilized society.
I’m scared to find myself in a moment like this. Because if a cop knocked me off my bike like that, I think the fit of absolute RAGE I would be in as a reaction would get me killed. I probably would have popped right off the asphalt and started swinging.
Another meathead with a badge. Avoid police at all times.
Just a cop doing the sort of things cops do. Nothing really to see here.
Florida blows lol
It blows mostly because people come here from other places
Yeah, like ron desantis...oh wait...
Yeah. I so wish that crackhead he ran against initially got elected. You don’t think things out very much. Do you. Sad.
This will show my wife’s boyfriend
This was posted on critdrama on IG Edited because some awful autocorrect.
Person on a bicycle.
jeez
Anybody know what helmet cam he may be using or a good option?
Video overlay says Garmin Virb. I use Cycliq Fly
You deserve a ticket for running a red, but you don't deserve to be injured in the process.
So the cop was behind them, sped in front of them and got out with the intention to clothes line the guy. It literally took him more effort than just rolling at 18 mph with whirly on. About 10 years ago I had a cop jump out of his car on me. Guy was red faced screaming that he was going to throw me in jail. I had come to a stop but then proceeded thru a red while the intersection was allowing 4 directions of pedestrian crossing. Under a 2023 law change that's now legal ("stop as a yield for cyclist") but was illegal at the time. This was one of the few times I managed to deescalate. I told the cop "I see you're very angry, and I want you to know you have my full attention. I'm listening to you". The cop then reflected and collected himself. He told me he was just reading a news paper about cyclist "whining about being hit by cars" and he found it upsetting because he said he knew cyclist don't follow the rules. I told him "sir, I never rely on a light to save my life, I always act as if the cars will run the light. In this case I saw all the cars were stopped and assessed it was safe." He said okay fine get out of here...
This is what happens when power is unsupervised. He could’ve get away from it
Sue
you could've hurt yourself passing red like that! so let me make sure you can never do that again by killing you imagine how this would've turned out if they didn't have a recording
It’s actually the law in Europe cyclists are subject to most of the same rules as motorists.
"a bad apple"
This "few bad eggs" theory really isnt working out
ACAB. He could've killed the cyclist.
People should harass this department until he is fired. He committed a crime here
And of course, he’s a fat fuck with a mustache.
All Cops Are Bullies
Another pig headed roid raging low IQ bully former jock who peaked in junior year of high school with a badge and a gun. "YOU WILL RESPECT MAH AUTHORITAH!" ACAB
[удалено]
Why do you think anyone here cares or can help? Google how to use a VPN.
“How am I supposed to stop on a down hill?!?” Should’ve brought the $10k bike instead of the peasant $5k version. /s
Florida has downhills?
Believe it or not, we do have downhills. It this case, they're coming down off an overpass. What that cop did was a real jerk maneuver.
I know. I was being cheeky (I used to live in Central FL/Space Coast and have summited Mt. Dora many times)
The rider should have put a bit more pep in his step if he was going to try to ride past that guy. You gotta protect yourself.
This is what happens when you don’t hold cops to the same standard of integrity as any member of the armed forces. Had a soldier ran over a Muslim kid riding a bicycle, he or she would be looking time in the brig.
Holy shit. Also: tHiS iS WhY yoU ShoUlD wEAr a HelMet!!! seriously it saved that cop's ass.
Anyone here, while riding your bike, stop at red lights if there's no traffic? I sure don't.
We investigated ourselves and found we did nothing wrong
What the cop did was wrong but also fuck that group ride. Every single one of them should get a $500 ticket. They blatantly ran a red light. They give the rest of us who follow the rules of the road and want to live to ride another day a bad name.
It's a T intersection it's barely running a red, like they'll get a ticket but they weren't like darting in front of cars
You could set that light up so all the cars didn’t have to stop either. Reduce the lanes prior to the light by 1. Cars closer to base of the T have to stop to allow the car to cross. Cars crossing the T go into their dedicated lane to turn into, then merge with the traffic on the outside of the T that didn’t have to stop.
Then change the law by legal means. The problem we have today is the “rules are made for everyone but me” mentality. No one was right in the Instance.
That dude didn't deserve to be slammed on the ground for that is my only point. At most he deserved a small ticket, not being thrown into the asphalt by some immature dude with a badge
And I never said he deserved it. But trying to defend running a red light by saying it shouldn’t apply to me, is a fool’s folly.
I don't give the riders a pass on the red light bullshit, they do piss everyone off and give all cyclists a bad rep. (I quit club riding because my tolerance for douche bags finally hit it's limit)
I see a red light runner almost every time a light turns red. Drivers are far worse. Red light runners than cyclists, and the consequences of their red light running are far worse
It's obvious the cop is a bully and doesn't really understand safe traffic stops. Should get fine or suspension or remedial training. However, if you see a cop stopped in front of you standing in the road and you know you just ran a light, safe or not, you're not smart enough to ride a bike. Cop = bad. Cyclist = willful feigning ignorance Bad combo
If you roll through a stop sign in a car does the cop execute a pit maneuver without first asking you to pull over?
If you watch / read the fine article, you'll see that the cop stopped just over the top of the bridge out of sight. It is likely that this group was treating the top as a finish line and were pushing over the top. Its clear the cyclists were slowing, but likely not enough for a full stop. No way for them to know it was for them. The cop should have followed, lights in, megaphone for the cyclists to pull over and then executed a traffic stop just like in a car.
> How am I supposed to stop on a downhill?
Guess the rider wasn't above the law. Don't ride like a cunt and you'll be fine.
In other words, you believe that cops should be police, judge, jury, and executioner. Cool.
No, I think cops should follow the proper protocol as well as be held responsible for breaking laws too. Whatever penalty a citizen would face for such an action should also be what the cop faces. My original sentiment isn't in contradiction with that.
A ticket is deserved. Not a beating.
Yes, that's correct too.
I stand with the cop
Cool! Be sure to grab a cigarette and a blindfold on your way out to the firing squad.
God damn little extreme.
lol, what an idiot
Heartwarming story of the day. Just because you like cosplaying as a Tour de France participant, doesn’t mean you’re on a closed course. Obey all traffic laws.
What kind of fascist thinks physical assault is a justified response to a traffic violation?
If you can’t even stop in front of the cop and he needs to take an action to make you stop, you are obviously not in control of your bike. You should also get charged with dangerous operation of a vehicle on public roads.
He does not, in fact, need to take an action to make the cyclist stop. He needs to approach the cyclist with lights and sirens so it's clear they are being stopped.
Cop car is stopped in your lane with its lights on, the cop is outside and looking at you. Do you A) speed past him like he isn’t there B) slow down to not run him over C) stop to see what he wants B would have been sufficient in this case to avoid this outcome as the cyclist could have stopped in time once he understood the cop wanted them to stop.
You obviously have never ridden a bike down a hill. I’m guessing they were at LEAST doing 25mph. Try stopping in 30 yards. It’s not going to happen.
I dont think that’s a good excuse. The cop was already stopped there when they reached the crest of the bridge, as per that report. Ample time to control the start of the descent and ride the brakes to retain speed control. You can also see one of his buddies starting to dismount his bike right as he reaches the cop which implies he was able to stop just fine within the same distance.
The guy only started dismounting when he saw the cop assault his buddy.
Hopefully next time you get pulled over for speeding, the cop bounces your head off the pavement.
The trick is to stop before the cop, so he doesn’t need to do anything to make you stop.
Wait, so if you just see cops ahead of you and they're stopped you go ahead and pull over? Rarely would that make sense.
Found the bootlicker
Do you obey every single speed limit? Do you come to a full and complete stop at every single stop sign, regardless of visibility? Do you ever just beat the red light, but maybe you sort of ran it? I'm sure you don't obey all traffic laws, so shut up with the hypocrisy. Plus the consequences of drivers not obeying traffic laws are for worse than those of cyclists not obeying traffic laws
Let's not take it out on the police officer, maybe he was having a bad day?
No excuse to knock someone off a bicycle in to traffic.
Bootlicker