Thursday, June 05, 2008

Bicyclists deserve to be tasered

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Just for being .. ah... irritating:
A bicyclist tells an incredible story of police brutality after being stopped for riding his folding bicycle away from the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport after a flight in September.

Stephan Orsak, writing at his Greencycle website, said he was "rudely accosted, assaulted with battery," and tasered. He says he was complying with all the laws of the airport and Minnesota rules of the road at the time of the incident.

After he was hospitalized for observation, the 135-pound violinist was thrown in jail for 8 hours and eventually charged with six counts of obstructing officers, failure to comply, etc.; the usual charges you'll see in cases like this.

Orsak says a preliminary hearing on the charges is coming up later this month.

The bizarre chain of events started when an airport policeman started yelling out the window of his squard car at Orsak for riding his bicycle on Outbound Road at the terminal.

He stopped and the officer gave Orsak some contradictory orders about where he could and could not ride. Just for the record, there was no sign prohibiting bicycles on that road at the time. After some discussion, Orsak tried to leave, he was thrown to the ground, picked up, accosted with a taser and arrested.

On his website, Orsak says:

"It must be understood that from the onset that I was treated disrespectfully and as a second class citizen. My presence on the road, though absolutely legal, must have been an annoyance to Officer Wingate. I was clearly profiled simply for being a cyclist, a clear violation of civil rights."

Orsak's blog has received dozens of comments in support, and the RoadGuy blog at the Star Tribune website has received many responses to the story. His story -- with a warning -- also was posted on the BikeAccess.net website.

Go check out his story. It's an amazing case of police brutality and coverup. Let's wish him luck.

Welcome to the New World Order. Where Tasering is commonplace and always called for.

Update 6/6: I was informed in comments this case was a year old, and that the case had already come to court. Orsak received a stayed sentence. Good to hear.

What I'm most interested in is the attitude of the police, their belief that tasering is not harmful and is too quickly used in unnecessary ways. Where are they getting this encouragement to misuse such a weapon?

(edited for clarity)

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Orsak says a preliminary hearing on the charges is coming up later this month.

Um, ellroon, this happened a year ago. Not only has the preliminary hearing occurred, but he has also already had his trial. Dude was convicted only on failure to obey peace officer, which I gather he has appealed on. He was found not guilty on any of the moving violations, which is GREAT.

But it still is a warning--I hope the cops in Minneapolis have edumacated themselves on where bicycles are allowed to travel.

ellroon said...

I am glad to be corrected. I've been keeping track of the tasering incidences and this one seemed new to me.

Thanks, anon!

Steve Bates said...

Tasering cyclists is a new low, but for decades, back to the days 30 years ago when I cycle-commuted almost everywhere, many otherwise rational people have become hostile to the point of strong language and red faces about the very presence of bicycles on the road. The gross irrationality of their anger has always astonished me: I could just as easily have been their younger brother, or son, or elderly parent, but because I was on the road on a bicycle, I was an enemy deserving of assault.

I could never ride very fast because of my knee injury, but I think I have lived this long because I got to the point where I could not ride at all. I'd love to get a "comfort" bike and resume riding, but frankly, I'm afraid to do so.

ellroon said...

I loved riding my bike, but haven't been on one for years. Is a comfort bike the one with three wheels and a basket? That one will come in very handy when gas is at 10$ a gallon... handy to take your extra vegetables to market to trade...

I've noticed the anger level is high at pedestrians, too, Steve. Maybe as more people are forced to walk and bike again, we'll get a little kinder?

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