Off the seat of a bicycle
Chapter 33) Before Chicago /the police tailgater: open warfare begins

It was inevitable that it would happen: open warfare with the police started on a cool windy night. I was power-riding on largely empty streets and ran a red light and tuned north on a 3-lane, one-way street going uphill.

I was on the far left side of the left lane, cranking it hard and flying up the street next to the parked cars when a car drove up behind me … real close … it was a tailgater … a one-in-1,000 driver … very dangerous but not uncommon when you’re displaying exaggerated prowess on the road.

But to me it was just another intentional tailgater. Ho-hum I’d seen him before, but I couldn’t actually ‘see’ him since I hadn’t learned how to swivel my head around 180º while riding high-speed forward in a straight line. I could only periodically glance back 115-120º so I had to guess at the comparative risk of my tailgater by the sound of his engine.

As a footnote: once I learned how to hold a straight line while looking 180º back, I discovered it was an immense advantage to see whether the person behind me was an ‘in-a-hurry’ guy or an ‘ass-running’ guy. The ‘look-behind’ strategy disarms all but the worst intentions, as long as your face remains totally emotionless …

… don’t forget, most ‘hasslers’ are trying to socialize an errant human, so any expression on the face when you look at them can trigger a response.

You must remain dead calm and if they persist, you have two options. The first strategy is to become a non-person, and this works to diffuse the mentally agitated. The second is used against ordinary street-holers, and what you do is bore a hole in them with your eyes. Let ‘em know that you’ll do what it takes, no matter what … pull a weapon if they persist … 90% will back off at that point, but some won’t and you have to be prepared to put yourself across their hood or tear off their mirror as they rip past you.

You must strike back against these dangerous people, otherwise, as I discovered, they come back and do it again whenever they see you. It’s a power trip to these individuals, identical to how serial killers enjoy controlling their victims, and it’s a lot more common than most people admit.

Of course the obvious logic in the car driver’s mind is that I’m pulling the power trip over them, which to them, makes me the serial killer. Whatever floats the boat … but wouldn’t it be simpler for the government to come out and make a declaration in favor of cyclists than let persist an inequity of endangerment? Tailgating is an outrageous behavior.

One interesting trick I learned was to find the tailgater in the grocery store and walk up and look at them … it’s a good trick …. these people will recognize you and it’s very confrontational. It startles them and they will stop bothering you after that. Law enforcement used the same trick against me in 1999 through 2003 to stop my activism. Like I said, eventually the police have to remove every bicycle activist and they will find a reason to do it.

That night the tailgater’s engine was running hot so I felt he was fresh-in from the highway and decided, for whatever perverse need, to power-trip over another person (which, don’t forget, is the car-driver’s legal right according to the car-bike code … the car can threaten and intimidate as much as he wants).

I was riding too fast to make a slick double-back or make an evasive flip down a side street, so I decided within a block to reel across all three lanes to safety on the far side.

There was an 18-wheeler spaced behind me in the center lane and I could see under him that no car occupied the far lane, so I dropped the bike hard and blasted across all three lanes, ending up in the far right lane, where I kept pedaling north. Bang done, no more power-tripper on my tail.

The big truck rumbled past and then a squad car pulled up behind me with its siren and lights bouncing off the street and buildings. I curved down a side street and rode up to the curb. I asked the policeman what’s up and he said ‘wait’ … no other words … he had been instructed not to trigger me … immediately 3 more police cars swarmed in and my ‘guy’ was one of those who got out. He was clearly in charge, and asked a question or two before I figured out he was the tailgater.

The guy assigned specifically to my case had tailgated me. I exploded in rage, gesturing wildly and yelling. What the fuck was he doing running up my ass like that? A policeman using his car to willfully endanger me was contemptible … if you gotta make a stop on somebody then just turn on the lights and siren. Did this mf think he was giving me an education? Did he think he was required to properly socialize me about bicycle danger?

He didn’t react to my rage like ordinary officers. Instead he reached in and tapped the pack of cigarettes under my sweater. I stopped raging and asked, ‘what did you think … that was a gun?’ He said, ‘I don’t know,’ and just like that, my flashover was gone … I meant absolutely no harm, and my calmer voice must have said it.

My guy nodded and the other officers got in their cars and drove off, no words said.

It’s interesting that somebody figured out that a confrontational cop like James S.B. would escalate a minor traffic stop into a knock-over running shoot-out.

My guy wrote 5 or 6 tickets while I stood there, including reckless driving, running a red light and who can remember the rest. It brought the total number of tickets to 16. Yes I amassed 16 traffic tickets before the court date of the first ticket.

It didn’t matter, the next day I continued riding the way I wanted. I re-hired my usual lawyer … and he more than enjoyed being my corner-man in the big fight … he was connected and smart, and would fairly represent me.

He liked me, maybe because I pushed legal thinking, but I sensed from him there was quite a lot going on behind the scene, and he was trying to read the situation too. But moreover I felt him reading me as well … and he was providing information to the courts, so I kept it to few words. I was no glib-versed talker anyway.

I mentioned the tailgating-incident to my lawyer, and it might have had an effect on the outcome, but actually the court was measuring the whole man and not a single action.


Chapter 34)   My right to be different
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