Hollywood Sign Expected to Read 'Save the Peak' on Thursday
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Bye, Bye Hollywood Sign... at Least Temporarily [Updated]
Photos: Here's to the Bookworms!
Palin Calls Global Warming a 'Bunch of Snake Oil Science'
We've heard about the LAPD doing this before--one LAist writer witnessed something like this last year in Hollywood--and here it is again from last Friday night, via Damien Newton at Streetsblog:
... things got ugly when Los Angeles Critical Mass breezed onto Los Angeles Street and ran into an LAPD Squad Car facing against traffic with its lights flashing. According to eye witnesses, the two officers tackled cyclists off their bikes at the front of the mass and were still trying to drag massers off their bikes at the tail of the mass. Witnesses claim that there was no announcement that riders should dismount nor any attempt to signal out riders that were lawbreakers, just an attempt to randomly grab cyclists and detain them.
Apparently, one part of the incident was caught on video and will be uploaded to the internet soon, according to one Streetsblog commenter. If you remember, one officer got into trouble after tackling a cyclist in New York City (it was caught on video).
And for some good news, new LAPD Chief Charlie Beck has ordered a bicycle working group to examine bicycle policies.
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Completely unacceptable. I hope the new chief of police will be reprimading these sorts of tactics on the part of the LAPD.
LAWL. I love it.
Critical Mass is nothing but an opportunity for bike nerds to try and be tough guys while enjoying the safety a roving mob provides. Love to see them cork some intersections down on Slauson / Crenshaw.
"Love to see them cork some intersections down on Slauson / Crenshaw."
Local residents do this well enough with their regular bike driving, from my experience. But I'm guessing that's not the stereotype you're referencing, is it?
I wonder how much time you've ACTUALLY spent in that area vs being a nerd trying to be a tough guy while enjoying the safety a one-ton vehicle provides.
Hahaha, Paul is so butthurt.
Where are the rest of your bike fag friends to back you up?
I spend plenty of time in the 'shaw and guess what? I ride the bus.
Care to elaborate on your experiences with "local bike drivers"? Can't seem to remember the last time hundreds of trustfund hipster jerkoffs on fixies were doing donuts at that intersection. You know why? Cause they aint yuppies, and y'all are pussies!
yuppies
hipsters
trustfund
fixies
"butthurt"
Hahaha. I don't own a bike, I'm from a middle class family in San Bernardino, and haven't gotten a cent from my parents since I turned 16. Sounds like someone's projecting. Awww, do you take public transportation because daddy doesn't pay for your gas and you're too scared to ride on two wheels?
I just think you're ignorant. Why don't you get in your big ol' bus and make racists innuendo while riding through Inglewood. What kind of nerd ass still uses zeros for 0's anyway.
Please, illuminate my racist innuendo?
Good to know you're just a straight up troll -- considering you don't ride a bike and live in San Bernadino? Go drive your lifted truck back to the tweaker shithole you crawled out of.
And I ride public transportation because it's cheaper and more environmentally sound than maintaining a car + insurance for my 15 minute commute.
"Please"
racist
troll
tweaker
shithole
crawled
GOOD JOB LAPD!!!
F'n Critical Mass pisses me off and a lot of other motorists.
They create a distraction on the roads and put a lot of people in harms way.
No SANE person should upset, because if the LAPD tackled the mother f'r it means the mother f'r didn't listen when told to stop.
"They create a distraction on the roads and put a lot of people in harms way."
So do drivers who don't properly use passing lanes. LAPD and CHP should DRIVE THOSE CAR DRIVING FUCKS OFF THE ROAD. Same goes for people who drive above the speed limit in residential areas and use the right lanes to pass. FUCK 'EM, FUCK 'EM TO DEATH.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/red+herring
+1
So what problem am I distracting from, smarty-pants?
Hi Paul. I'm going to assume you're a transplant since in the Great State of California it is perfectly LEGAL to use the right lanes to pass. Also, no native Californian would EVER admit they were from San Bernardino.
I was there, riding with the mass. The problem is that the LAPD did NOT have its patrol lights flashing (as this article states erroneously) NOR did they ever issue an order to "STOP" via their loudspeaker. They just started tackling cyclists at will and at random without warning. There are protocols LAPD has to follow when detaining suspects of any crime, and there was absolutely no observance of any protocol. This was abuse of force and police brutality. Regardless of a traffic laws broken, LAPD cannot attempt to detain someone by force (in this case by assault) without first notifying them that they are a suspect, i.e., issuing the command "Freeze!" or "Stop". Imagine if you were walking down the sidewalk and police officer just came up to you and threw you up against a wall without warning? Or worse, they just fired at you without warning? What if you were driving your car and speeding, and to stop you, the police didn't attempt to pull you over, just immediately tried a pit manuever on you. It's the same thing. It's abuse of power and unconstitutional.
When riding with Critical Mass, most of us know the group attempts to stay together, corks intersections, and sometimes runs red lights. You take the risk of being ticketed when riding with this group because of their tendency to run red lights. However, a traffic violation does not warrant an assault by a police officer. I appreciate that you don't like Critical Mass, but when it's your rights being infringed, you're going to wish you had spoken differently. It all starts out with the little guy being assaulted by police and nothing happening. The next thing is you, being arrested for speeding, without any recourse. This issue has nothing to do with Critical Mass or cyclists versus motorists, it has to do with LAPD not following protocol and not respecting the constitutional rights of citizens.
Wow, I didn't know the fate of our human rights rested on the thin shoulders of a bunch of yuppies being obnoxious on fixies.
Everybody wants to be "oppressed" nowadays, and wants to be in some kind of "struggle". Wants to wear the victim hat.
'Cyclists' aren't an ethnic group, they're not being persecuted. For their own safety, they shouldn't battle it out with cars that are much, much bigger than them. Meanwhile, LAPD raids a park for having too many Black people in it. And we're supposed to care about people who ride bikes? Cops are d----. What else is new?
Love it!
Maybe the LAPD would stop harassing "cyclists" if Critical Mass in LA hadn't morphed into a tagging/shoplifting/stab each other/litter fest.
It takes about 5 minutes of reading the forums of www.midnightridazz.com to see that "bike kulture" (anyone who started riding after 2005) in LA is overrun by idiots who take the whole social outlaw aspect of riding a fixed gear a little too seriously.
LAPD has a history of harassing cyclists that dates back to August of 2000 (LA Critical Mass arrests)
Also the majority of the people who do these group rides are not shoplifters, taggers or social outlaws. Unlike the majority of the car drivers who are homicidal and reckless.
Yet LAPD doesn't yank people out of their cars and drag them onto the street.
To relegate the bicycle riders as criminals and undesirables shows intolerance and continued marginalization. Bicyclists have equal rights under the law, yet they have not been able to fully exercise those rights. Do we need a Bicyclists Civil Rights Act?
Law enforcements maltreatment of cyclists is not just an LA problem, it is a nationwide problem. Police vs Critical Mass
"Unlike the majority of the car drivers who are homicidal and reckless."
OH MAN THIS THREAD IS FULL OF LAWLGASMS.
I remember the 2000 Democratic National Convention bust. Had to help get a friend of mine out of jail who was in that ride. He said that the LAPD who were supposed to be escorting them herded them into a cul de sac and just started arresting them all.
Creative booking I guess you'd call it.
they should do this for automobile traffic too - anytime there's a large number of cars blocking up the street, just start forcing all the cars off the road and throw all the drivers down with their faces in the pavement. LAPD is brilliant.