Motorcyclists and non-riders , I would like opinions on this story

[St. Lou Stu]

No one here could have been seriously injured by what happened in this video.
The people in the video could have been. If it takes pulling a weapon to prevent injury or death (to anyone) then DO IT.

The only swollen headed douchebag I saw was the guy on the bike.

At the end of the day everyone went home.

I imagine that the officer in the video will make it home many more days than someone who second guesses pulling his sidearm.

[replicant_argent]

btw.. just watched the short clip with audio, and quite frankly, I didn't see a "glimpse" worth anything of a badge on his hip, certainly not displayed for positive ID. My eyes go towards GUN and POSSIBLE CRAZY guy, unless he shows me a badge right in my face. Let's face it, though, put yourself in Stupids boots for a minute. You just got done stunting like an asshat on the freeway for a while, and someone pulls in front of you with a gun off the exit, and you may have glimpsed a cherried patrol or trooper on it's way.... Chances are DimBulb knew it was a cop, and that he was just a naughty dipshit guilty squid, and the chances of a civvie pulling a weapon on him were slim.

[mmblz]

Originally Posted by Neuromancer

Okay, Tom...the guy was speeding, doing 100+ on a crotch rocket...why would any cop automatically think it was a gun situation and pull his weapon out of his holster?

He was going 140 and doing a wheelie. Clearly he is not sane. Since he is not sane, who knows what he will do when pulled over.

I think the initial stop was not unreasonable. The punk got off easy. After posting the video, what ensued was unusual - but if it gets this asshole off the street, I don't really care.

[pnoon]

Originally Posted by mmblz

He was going 140 and doing a wheelie. Clearly he is not sane. Since he is not sane, who knows what he will do when pulled over.

I think the initial stop was not unreasonable. The punk got off easy. After posting the video, what ensued was unusual - but if it gets this asshole off the street, I don't really care.

This jackhole endangers the safety and lives of dozens of people but cries foul when it's his own ass that's threatened. Anybody see the irony here?

[mithrilG60]

Originally Posted by ggainey

I guess the crazy cops just don't see that much value in pulling over someone who mostly obeys the traffic laws.

Bingo! A fact conveniently lost on, or ignored by, the vast majority bikers and drivers that like to whine and rant on about how much they're targeted by the police who have all developed God/"Wyatt Earp" complexes because they have a badge and gun.

[jitzy]

There is no way this guy didn't know that the guy was a cop there was a marked car there also. This guy on the bike was ****ing around and put himself, the off duty cop and the on duty cops life's in danger not to mention all the people he did pass while pulling this stunt. The biggest thing is all of you guys that were pulled over and ****ed with KNOW 100% that your not a threat to the police but the police officer has ZERO of knowing your not. To many people come up with the nonsense of I was no threat and yes you may be no threat but how in the world is the cop supposed to know that. We don't all have that TV sense of knowing all. I handcuff people who are possible threats all the time and I tell them this is for YOUR safety as well as mine and when the situation ends NO ONE GETS HURT. Sometimes someones ego may me hurt but guess what you get to go home to your family and so do I. As deadly as a firearm may be it's certainly saved more life's than it's taken.

[SeanGAR]

Originally Posted by mithrilG60

Bingo! A fact conveniently lost on, or ignored by, the vast majority bikers and drivers that like to whine and rant on about how much they're targeted by the police who have all developed God/"Wyatt Earp" complexes because they have a badge and gun.

I rode a motorcycle for 20 years, and for 6 as my only motorized transportation.

I was pulled over only once by a cop on my bike, for running a red light, which I did: he gave me a warning (it was yellow just before I entered the intersection).

So in my experience if you don't drive like a maniac on a motorcycle, the cops leave you alone.

[King James]

First off, not being an officer or having any of the knowledge or training involved in being/becoming one.... I won't pretend to know or make opinions on when an officer feels it is a necessary enough threat to pull out their gun. There are obvious situations when it is or is not necessary, but I don't think this falls into that category and is obviously one of the officer's discression. In the case of plain clothed officer I do personally think he should have been more vocal about making the biker aware he was an officer, but do not think he was out of line for drawing his gun (and not pointing it at the guy) especially since he was going 140+ on the freeway and then started to back away.

[mithrilG60]

Originally Posted by neoflex

I just watched the original footage again after reading your thread but if you watch it in it's entirety the guy is far from running from anything and I actually feel a little more sympathy for him. If you watch at the beginning he is moving with the flow of traffic than he gets on it and obviously does a wheelie which is a boneheaded move for a heavily congested I-95 but if you watch from the 1/2 way point to the end the guy is back to moving with the flow of traffic and actually gets passed by a clapped out looking Accord a couple times and even gets passed by an Acura TL a couple times right before he exits the Interstate so he clearly isn't running from anything.

Easy for you to say that now having had the benefit of seeing the sections of the video the motorcyclist wants the world to see. Not so easy for that officer to determine in real time considering this guy came into his line of sight stunting at high speed on a crowded public highway and that's all he had on which to base his decision to pursue and pull over.

Just because you obey the speed limit 9 times out of 10 doesn't mean you shouldn't get a ticket if on that 10th time you happen to be unlucky enough to speed through a radar trap or whip past an unmarked cruiser.

The warrants after the fact were well over the top IMHO and should be dealt with by the appropriate means. The rest of it was 100% on the biker and he should be thankful that's all that happened to him, specifically he should be grateful that it actually was a police officer who stepped out of that car and not some road raging crazy.

[1badhog07]

Cant we all just get along......sarcasism

[jitzy]

Originally Posted by 1badhog07

Cant we all just get along......sarcasism

Sarcastic or not its true there's really nothing any of us are gonna do to change the others minds. Grab a smoke now and enjoy the day everyone.

[icehog3]

Originally Posted by Neuromancer

Okay, Tom...the guy was speeding, doing 100+ on a crotch rocket...why would any cop automatically think it was a gun situation and pull his weapon out of his holster? Do you do that every time you stop someone for speeding or running a red light? I think the cop went way overboard on his reaction to a guy on a crotch rocket...we've all seen them flying down the highway at 100+...you should see what they're like on I-95 coming out of Miami...why does that warrent this cop pulling out his piece automatically? Do you do that for traffic stops? Just cause someone's doing 100?

Remember that we have the benefit of knowing the context of the motorcyclist's actions while watching the video. The cop, on the other hand, likely does not know why the cyclist is going 140+ MPH. Could he have just committed a forcible felony, (i.e., robbed a bank, killed his ex-wife, etc)? The cop doesn't know. Could he be willing to kill to avoid being caught if he did just commit a crime? The cop doesn't know. We do know because we have the luxury of seeing the video from a hot-dog cycling website...the cop did not have that luxury.

In this situation, I would have had my sidearm unholstered and "at the ready" until I felt the danger of the unknown had passed. It seems to me that is exactly what this cop did. Should he have yelled "police" as he approached? Absolutely, but fear and adrenaline sometimes make people act with a "survival" instinct first.

And without the benefit of knowing the context of the motorcyclist's actions, as we do after the fact, I completely disagree with the idea that this cop should have "known" for a fact that his guy wasn't running from something.

Originally Posted by mithrilG60

Bingo! A fact conveniently lost on, or ignored by, the vast majority bikers and drivers that like to whine and rant on about how much they're targeted by the police who have all developed God/"Wyatt Earp" complexes because they have a badge and gun.

Originally Posted by SeanGAR

I was pulled over only once by a cop on my bike, for running a red light, which I did: he gave me a warning (it was yellow just before I entered the intersection).

So in my experience if you don't drive like a maniac on a motorcycle, the cops leave you alone.

Amazing how many people have had this same experience.

Fifteen years of riding, I got pulled over two summers back for my first and only time.

Believe it or not, I had forgotten to put my helmet on and had only ridden a 100 yards or so when I passed a trooper going the other way. The rest is history,

[CasaDooley]

My thoughts;
Cop-1
Bad guy-0
Good guys generally don't have a problem with the police and are glad they are around, bad guys think cops suck. Cops have a tough job and I for one don't want to read about how another one was killed while trying to be more "kind and gentle" as per the agenda of the PC public.
My opinions for my statement are formed due to the following:
I,m ex military and served duty as a SP liaison with the San Diego PD and Sheriffs Dept.
My best friend is ex Alabama & California Sheriff and a lot of my friends are LEO's.
I'm a biker, started riding at the age of 22.
Me, I'm glad the cops are out there on the beat, I sleep better at night. Thanks guys

[aich75013]

Originally Posted by icehog3

In this situation, I would have had my sidearm unholstered and "at the ready" until I felt the danger of the unknown had passed. It seems to me that is exactly what this cop did. Should he have yelled "police" as he approached? Absolutely, but fear and adrenaline sometimes make people act with a "survival" instinct first.

While I agree and can definately understand your point, I have to admit that having someone pull a gun, and not immediately identifying themselves as a PO would scare the $#!+ out of me.
(I don't ride a bike because I'm afraid the ability to go that fast might have an influence on the way I drive.)

[icehog3]

Originally Posted by aich75013

While I agree and can definately understand your point, I have to admit that having someone pull a gun, and not immediately identifying themselves as a PO would scare the $#!+ out of me.
(I don't ride a bike because I'm afraid the ability to go that fast might have an influence on the way I drive.)

I agree Adrian, that he should have identified himself sooner, though I also understand that all this happens in a fraction of a second, rather than the leisurely pace of Monday morning quarterbacking.

[cobra03]

This all boils down to the fact that the knuckle head was driving like an azz. No one made him drive like that. It was a choice he made and he paid the price.This would not have been an issue if he was obeying the law.I have no sympathy for him . He's lucky they didnt have to scape him up off the pavement after he wrecked.

[RGD.]

Not targeting you Tom - just a convenient quote:

Originally Posted by icehog3

I agree Adrian, that he should have identified himself sooner, though I also understand that all this happens in a fraction of a second, rather than the leisurely pace of Monday morning quarterbacking.

For the people saying he should have identified himself sooner - jeez, he does that in 4 seconds according to the timer on the video.

The suspect is doing something he does not want him to do: backing up in a running bike. He gives a command three times followed by "State Police". Seems pretty fast to me.

Also if you look at the long version of the video - at 3 minutes in the biker turns and looks behind him. He knew damn good and well the State Troopers were there. I'm in Maryland frequently and I haven't seen an unmarked State car that didn't have dash and/or grill lights in it yet.
Also the trooper never brought his gun up to bear - and he put it away as soon as the bike was turned off.

People can argue this all day but it's still gonna end up State Trooper - 1, Idiot Biker - 0.



Ron

[Neuromancer]

Originally Posted by 68TriShield

I disagree Marc.

There's no way I can say that my experiences as a firefighter are anything close to your experiences as a LEO...we were both doing something for the public good, and in both of our experiences we put our life on the line for civilians, however when we ran into a burning building we knew (for the most part) what we could expect, and I guess every situation for a LEO leaves you little time to figure out what's going down with no pre-knowledge whatsoever, so I agree with your right to disagree, Tom...

[yourchoice]

Originally Posted by CasaDooley

My thoughts;
Cop-1
Bad guy-0

Originally Posted by RGD.

People can argue this all day but it's still gonna end up State Trooper - 1, Idiot Biker - 0.

's

Other posts with this POV already said everything else I would say.