On Friday October 13 I was riding in Springbank with a friend. It was a quiet afternoon in the country, the weather was incredible and conditions perfect for a brisk afternoon spin. Upon crossing over Hwy 1 I noticed an RCMP officer with a radar gun monitoring the Hwy 1 eastbound and admired his prime location for catching law breakers.
We proceeded along Airport Road and were just cresting the steep hill out of the gully when that same police cruiser we had just spotted only minutes before came up beside us with its lights ablaze and pulled us over. I was not sure what this officers deal was as we were riding single file and were completely in the right. He got out of his vehicle, stared us down and proceeded with the following unbelievable line; "Are you carrying ID? You need to. It is not a matter of if you will get hit riding this road, but when. And when you do get hit you will be killed. It's a dead wish riding this road." I was awestruck, but actually I knew it was coming. I was pulled over 2 years ago by the same officer and he dropped the same line then. He went on to lecture us on how we were a liability to drivers, how if there was an accident around us we could get sued as we don't belong on the road. He proclaimed how we did not belong on this road or any other without a significant shoulder and that he would not be pleased if he saw us again in the area. This proceeded for a good ten minutes and in that time frame another cyclist coming along the road had also been asked to join us and listen to this officers verbal abuse. As this was happening a friend of mine rode by in the opposite direction. I waved and smiled thinking it was ironic that I was pulled over on one of the few times I have ever seen him out on the road. As I politely listened with a big grin on my face the officer turned to me and remarked that I should get that smirk off my face or he was going to issue a "$175 ticket for breaking the rules". What is that supposed to mean? I had broken no rules, I was listening to his ridiculous speech without objection and minding my own business. I kept my mouth shut despite all the rage brewing inside from ultimately being harassed by this officer of the law. He eventually finished up and drove off ahead, I thought it was the last I would see of him.
As he drove away I was fuming. We had been intimidated to stop riding on this perfectly safe, lightly trafficated roadway by and individual with a transparent vendetta against cyclists. I had taken it all without protest and I felt violated of my rights as a citizen and cyclist using the road way as it is meant to be used. Cyclists share roads with motorists, we have equal rights and belong there as much as any motor vehicle. I was disgusted, but about to be absolutely sick....
Only about 2 km down the road we came to a 4 way stop. As we approached the intersection I slowed, checked all directions and upon only seeing one vehicle within about 500m proceeded to turn left continuing on my usual loop. As we rode away from the intersection I checked over my shoulder to see a vehicle in the distance behind us well on the other side of the intersection we had just come through just cresting a small rise. I thought there might be the slight chance of another officer in the area so I remained in single file formation and stayed well onto the shoulder. Only seconds later a police cruiser screeched to a halt infront of us and none other than the officer we had just spoken to only minutes before hopped out. I was outraged. I could not figure out why we were being stopped again, it was getting ridiculous. He had witnessed us fail to come to a complete stop (ei. foot down) at the intersection and proceeded to write us each a ticket for $287 for violation of a stop sign. Completely ridiculous. He had staked himself out on a road that leads to nowhere, essentially out of sight to try to catch us on something as he couldn't write a ticket the last time we met. My companion started to object and convey that he felt we were being victimized, but the officer replied he was patrolling Hwy 1 and it was pure coincidence he had seen us. This is a boldfaced lie as the road he came down was in the opposite direction of the highway and leads to nowhere. On top of that he would have had to turn his vehicle around in order to see us roll the intersection, it was obvious he was out to get us for something. Last time he had tried to intimidate we with a ticket that doesn't exist and now he was writing me up for something that was almost equally untrue. The truth is I did not put my foot down, and I did not come to a complete stop. The truth is also that I slowed to below 10 km/hr, and proceeded though a completely deserted intersection in the middle of the quiet countryside in an area were my line of visibility in all directions was at least 800m. To make matters worse as we stood waiting for our tickets we witnessed at least 5 vehicles roll the same intersection. Completely ridiculous.
I will appear in Cochrane Provincial court on November the 17th to fight this charge and launch my official complaint against officer number 25070, McFarlane of the Cochrane RCMP for harassment and discrimination. I hope to meet him again on those roads before my court date to strengthen my case. If you have been unfortunate enough to have encountered this same officer of Canada's national force and would like to join me in launching a complaint please let me know.
7 comments:
Oh Constable Mcfarlane. When will you retire. I've been pulled over by him many years ago when i was still commuting to cochrane for work. He felt the need to unholster his gun when i went for my registration in the glove box. At the time we were doing a lot of work for the RCMP and bumped in to him a few weeks later at work and bought up when he gave me a ticket and how he had unholstered his gun. He jokingly said at least you didn't get shot. I found it hard to find his humour in that situation. I think we've all been pulled over by Bruce Mcfarlane while riding our bicycles. He really should focus on the drivers that continue to make the roads unsafe. I've seen far to many fatal accidents in the 13 yrs of commuting to Cochrane.
Sorry to hear that you got harrassed by a very small person who gets to pretend to be big for his job. You're dead right Per, as a taxpayer I have every right to use the roads in whichever manner I choose, be that car, bicycle or other. I hope that your court date goes well and that officer asshat gets a serious wakeup. Sadly I doubt that will happen as it appears that the RCMP can get away with murder these days.
>>Working people frequently ask retired people what they do to make their
>>days interesting.
>>
>>Well for example, the other day Sylvia and I went into town and when into
>>a shop. We were only in there for about 5 minutes. When we came out, there
>>was a cop writing out a parking ticket. We went up to him and said, "Come
>>on man, how about giving a senior citizen a break?"
>>
>>He ignored us and continued writing the ticket. I called him a Nazi turd.
>>He glared at me and started writing another ticket for having worn tires.
>>So Marilyn called him a s---head. He finished the second ticket and put
>>it on the windshield with the first. Then he started writing a third ticket.
>>
>>This went on for about 20 minutes. The more we abused him, the more
>>tickets he wrote.
>>
>>Personally, we didn't care. We came into town by bus. We try to have a
>>little fun each day now that we are retired. It's important at our age.
This makes me angry Per. I fortunelty haven't been pulled over my officer asshat and I hope that it never happens. Let us hope he doesn't patrol those roads on Wednesday nights at around 6:45PM. Hope the court date goes well.
Listent to some NWA - F the police. "take off the gun so we can see whats up... and we'll go at it punk i'll F you up."
-MC REN
words to live by.
good luck with your court date per, if i was in calgary I'd come out for sure.
He stopped a group of us in the spring along Airport rd. He gave us a lecture about how he's chased people at 200k/h down that road and we were going to get killed. He reccomended the Trans Can Hwy for safe riding!
Give'm hell in court man!
Brian.
PS. I agree with Jamie's insightful thoughts
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