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Video: Cyclist Arrested For Biking Too Loudly
By
Lauren Evans
Published Nov 19, 2013
Modified Nov 19, 2013
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By
Lauren Evans
Published Nov 19, 2013
Modified Nov 19, 2013
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There's no shortage of evidence of the often cantankerous relationship between cops and cyclists. Cops blocking bike lanes, cops blocking bike lanes to ticket cyclists for not using the bike lanes, cops yanking cyclists off their bikes and on to the ground, etc. We'd never heard of cops arresting a cyclist for playing music too loudly, but there's a first time for everything!
Critical Mass, a monthly ride in which cyclists assemble on city streets to assert their right to the road, has been held in cities around the world since 1990. The last one, which kicked off in Union Square on October 25th, resulted in the arrest of one cyclist, the activist Mellow Yellow, who was nabbed and held for 24 hours, EV Grieve reports. His offense was playing his music too loud.
The video starts with the officer asking to see the cyclist's I.D, though it appears Mellow Yellow wasn't really in the mood for discourse. "Why are you here?" he asks. "You're here to tell me to turn down the radio?" he says, now shouting. "What about cars that are killing people?" Here the officer makes a fatal mistake. "Look, I don't care about the cars..." he says.
"YOU DON'T CARE ABOUT CARS KILLING PEOPLE!" Mellow Yellow screams. He's cuffed shortly thereafter, and, after briefly trying to wriggle away from the police (with musical backing from Chubby Checkers), he's stuffed in the back of the patrol car.
"Why aren't you busting real crime?" someone else shouts, before the video fades out.
Barbara Ross, a volunteer with advocacy group Right of Way, had the same question. "Will the new NYPD commissioner continue to allocate wasted NYPD resources to enforce sound levels of cyclist's radio on their bikes of focus instead on investigating real crimes like kids being killed by cars?" she asked in a statement. "Do the police trail behind cars for hours, stopping them if they play their radio too loud as they drive by?"
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critical mass
cycling
cyclists
nypd
Lauren Evans
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