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3 Arrested And 44 Ticketed During Critical Mass
By
Jen Chung
Published Mar 31, 2007
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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By
Jen Chung
Published Mar 31, 2007
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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Last night's first Critical Mass ride in an era of the police parade rule that requires groups of 50 or more to apply for permits resulted in three people getting arrested, forty-four receiving tickets, and a few people getting summonses. Based on the NY Times and Newsday articles, the arrests were for disorderly conduct, obstructing government administration, and something to be determined. Newsday had this interesting account of one bicyclist's experience after the ride started:
Moments later, police stopped Kim Kalesti, 49, on Park Avenue South near 18th Street, confiscated her single-speed bike and put her in the back of a squad car.
"I don't know why you're bothering me," said Kalesti, a musician who lives on the Lower East Side, as she was led away by an officer. "I'm a law-abiding citizen." A crowd of onlookers chanted, "Let her go! Let her go!"
Kalesti later said she had been given a summons for riding on the wrong side of the road.
that "the cops began to single people out and write summons to people who did not have a bell or a light or some other law on the books that is enforced about as frequent as someone driving on a cell phone." The police also created a blockade of scooters at Park Avenue South and 32nd Street.
And Will at OnNYTurf says that City Council member Rosie Mendez, who was riding in a pedicab, "was not touched by the NYPD (good move on their part)."
Were you there? Did you see the ride? And given the news that Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus performer Bello Nock's special teeny bike was stolen, maybe it was the cops who seized the vehicle!
Photograph by Eric Brown/dogseat on Flickr; it's part of a whole set
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Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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