You are reading a single comment by @edmundane and its replies.
Click here to read the full conversation.
London Fixed Gear and Single-Speed is a community of predominantly fixed gear and single-speed cyclists in and around London, UK.
This site is supported almost exclusively by donations. Please consider donating a small amount regularly.
@edmundane
Well, it's not me, but a very good friend of mine, a french student studying in London.
Maybe the city police do think there's not enough trouble they've got all their cases solved they can start bullying people and causing trouble.
The incident according to himself, if you care to read, a rather long one:
"At a traffic light near London Wall as I saw a red traffic light I slow down, a policeman on bike was there too. The light turned green and the policeman started riding, I followed him and, as I wasn't at a complete stop I passed him without accelerating. Everything was Ok to that point. I heard a voice behind me, unclear. Then 20m further I heard a real shout "STOOOOOOOOPPP!!!!!"........
"I was in panic, I started to sprint, a line was open in front of me, I just sprinted.........
"I passed a roundabout, kept on straight on the avenue, cycle 20 meters on the pedestrian walkway while slowing, after 2 minutes of sprint I started to calm down and thought that I shouldn't have a dangerous cycling in anyway, that I haven't done anything wrong...
"After about a minute of normal relaxed cycling, I looked back, no one behind me, I thought I was secure, happy nothing crazy happened. Suddenly from between 2 cars, the same policeman came out, and a blood rush made me sprint again, I was on the road and he was on the pavement, a metalic pole holding up a street sign was approaching, the policeman grabbed my T-shirt and collided with the metal pole, he was lying down on the floor, his bike on the floor as well, I was scared that he was hurt, I could have run away at that precise moment, but I was petrified at the idea that he was actually crazy enough to run after me and attack me so violently, and now potentially hurt, I wanted to make sure he was OK, and when I saw his face it was just to see his mad face and hin trying to apply his police technics of control over me. A big sporty 40 british man, 90kg, tried to twist my arm, I refused, so I went to the floor, against the wall, showing no resistance nor agressive behavior, he was pressuring me with his knee and trying to twist my arm, I refused to twist my arm, I was very calm, I let him pass me the handcufs, He told me "you are very lucky I didn't point my gun at you! Running like this you could be a terrorist! How can I know?", "if you had just stopped the first time I wouldn't have even fined you, I would have just told you to go more slowly, to be more carefull" and this respectable officer embodies justice in the UK, brilliant...
"10 minutes later I am in the police station. they made jokes about french from each of them, "the french are the best an't they? They all like this", "Tell me young man, all french hate the police right?" provoking me. I ask for a lawyer. I ask for water. They tell me to sit here, wait, "it is a very serious case, we are going to take your fingerprints, photo and DNA", They empty my bag, put my camera out, insinuating I stolen it, ask me where my money comes from, asking me if I do drug deal, etc etc... I am not allowed to go in the cell with my clothes, they give me this grey idiot pyjama, to prevent suicide they say. They take me out of the cell, I face a machine that scans my hand, the fingers one by one, the side of my hand, the lady officer takes some of my skin inside my mouth for DNA, they take pictures of me, I try to smile a little bit, nervous reflex, back in the cell....
" The lawyer is a very nice lady, I explain her this incoherent story, and the policeman wants to charge me for:
crossing the red light : never happenned, I followed him
refusing to stop at a policeman injunction, the first time wasn't clear at all, the second and third time were hysteric. Anyway I was called for something I did not commit, I don't have nothing to do with him.
refusing priority on a roundabout : it was a 2 lines large roundabout, the internal line was taken by a truck going on the right, the external line was free, which I took.
cycling on the pavement : this is true, I cycled around 20 meters on the pedestrian way, to pass a bus, there was no pedestrian, I wasn't fast at all, this happened when I was cycling normally, after the sprint, before he catch me.
I explain here about the problems I had recently (flat burgled twice, nearly caught burglar red handed first time, almost got stabbed), and why I panic, she says that it doesn't matter, that it is a minor incident, I tell her that I have not much money, she advises me to plead guilty and I will probably get out quick with just a ticket, she promises me she's calling the officer to calm him down...
"The officer takes me out of the cell, and announces me proudly that I am going to court, and tells me it is extremely bad as he is accusing me of dangerous cycling : crossing a red light can be charged about £80, dangerous cycling can reach thousands of pounds, aggravateed by "refusing to cooperate with the police", promising. I am lucky enough to learn that today a similar case happened, a cyclist was chased by the police, and while escaping collided a pedestrian that died shortly after (fortunately didn't happen to me). I asked the policeman if his arm is OK, how proud he is, no way "you wouldn't have gone far anyway, I would have catch you", this is how fit he think he is. Financially I am eligible for free lawyer, legally the crime isn't serious enough to be contested, in other words, they can charge me how much they want and I cannot contest, unless I am a genius at defending my case myself, great. They return me all my stuff, I get the officer number "PC590 bishopsgate"...
ok... I understand that he could have been wiser and shouldn't have run away in the first place. So my question is, what can one do if faced with such a case? Any places where to voice concerns other than the IPCC? Trying to get CCTV footage on London Wall to prove that he isn't guilty of jumping the red?
It does almost feel that it's better to just leave it, pay the fines and forget about it, but lately I just can't help but feel that the police are not doing their jobs well enough and simply patronising innocent people. Especially that he passed the copper after the copper saw the green light, and is obvious the copper is being an arsehole. The possible maximum penalty for the crimes my friend was accused sounds ludicrous as well. £80 for jumping a red? up to thousands for "dangerous cycling"?
and it feels to me that telling him that a ped died after a collision with a cyclist is, well, i don't think i can believe them, and is some kind of provocation.