Traffic law & Portland police

[treever]

On my way home this evening, sometime around 6:15 p.m., I saw an older gentleman on a recumbent making his way up the short stretch on SE Woodward between 50th & 52nd. This two-block area is not like making your way up Mt. Tabor, but on a hot night at the end of the ride home . . . it's not like breezing down Mt. Tabor, either. A Portland Police patrol car sort of slowly paralleled him and then made a right hand turn right in front of him as he reached 51st Ave.

I couldn't believe it. I didn't know whether to feel sad or outraged. So here I am, posting my first topic to bikeportland.org. (Thanks for making this possible, Jonathan!)

The snarky devil on my shoulder wonders if this police officer was involved in the recent Salmon & 23rd sting. My more reasonable self knows life is much more complicated than that. But really, it was so unnecessary for that driver--a cop, no less--to do that. She wasn't in a hurry. And she wasn't needing to cite the cyclist for any wrong doing. What's up with this?

[GelFreak91]

There could be a number of reasons, but...I love how people bash cops until they need to call 9-1-1. Cops are people, and all people make mistakes. None of us know what that officer was doing. Just because someone did what they were told to do in their proffesion...such as hand out tickets to bikers who broke the law by not stopping at a posted stop sign doesn't mean they hate bikers or have something out for us. Everyone needs to just take a deep breath and be glad people are willing to do the jobs that police do. They are underpaid, undermaned, sometimes out gunned, and always at risk of death. Appriciate them for what they do, don't hate them for what they have to do.