Words from the amicus

This is great.
This is my favorite paragraph.

Of the approximately three hundred million people living in America, fifty-seven million of them ride a bicycle. Despite almost one-fourth of all Americans engaging in the activity, many law enforcement officers do not understand the statutory and Terry rights of bicycle operators. Bias against bicycle operators by motorists (including law enforcement) has existed since the turn of the 19th century. Bicycle operators continually deal with bias, misunderstanding, and unfair treatment by ignorant Peace Officers. Therefore, this Court must exercise its power to explicitly extend the protections of Terry to bicycle operators, to ensure fairness and just treatment in traffic law enforcement.

The amicus is nearly finished. If you'd like to support it, either join Bike Amici or mail us a small monetary donation. Either way, send an email to info@bikeamici.org - we look forward to hearing from you, preferably by Thanksgiving.

It's his word against theirs. Where is the video?

Good question. Where is the video? One was requested. There are a lot of security cameras at the airport. You'd think one would have caught this. Apparently not. Apparently the tape showed nothing. Well, the exact wording on Seargeant K's police report is:

I checked camera footage. Cameras number 420, 305, 54, 191 and 188, which did not show anything prior to the incident.

The words "prior to" are interesting.

Also, I don't know what those cameras point at, but Seargeant K testified in court that he was told by his officers that the incident happened in the alcove of a building. It happened on Outbound Roadway.

I read that Stephan biked away from the officers. That's fleeing an officer, that was wrong.

First, Stephan had not been advised that he was under arrest. I think (correct me if I'm wrong) Minnesota law says a person who has not been informed s/he is under arrest may leave.
Second, I'm sure that "fleeing an officer" refers specifically to driving a motorized vehicle.

Is bikeamici.org a radical anti-cop organization?

No. We recognize that police officers have an important role to play in enforcing traffic violations. It would be nice if they would ticket motorists who drive into bicyclists. The recent Summit avenue case comes to mind: I believe the motorist was driving an SUV and suddenly made a right hand turn, right into an experienced bicycle commuter in a bicycle lane wearing lights. Was the motorist charged? I hope so, but I read elsewhere that there was no charge.