'CRITICAL' CITATIONS - bike ride interrupted by Police crackdowns

Cody and erick, 31.07.2005 01:19

We were commanded to get off of our bikes at Pittsburg and S. 1st Street (we think). There were three of us. We were ordered by officer john caldwell from a van to get off our bikes. He claims he made an announcement and that we were playing games with him for running red lights. As a mass, we tried to stick together for safety's sake.

At 6:25 pm Friday, July 30 we were ordered off our bikes and detained for an unreasonable amount of time (about 30-45 minutes) as citations were issued for failing to obey traffic signals.

We have participated in critical mass in Madison, Berkeley, and San Francisco (in June). We have never seen police act this way during a critical mass. In fact, in SF last month the police blocked traffic with their cars to keep us safe during critical mass. We just moved here from Oakland, California and are dissapointed with the Milwaukee Police Department's use of force that attempts to keep us from dissent.

We felt upset that the mass continued after we were commanded to dismount our bikes. We wish that at least part of the mass had stayed with us to witness the issueing of our citations. Perhaps people were unaware that we were stopped and were being issued citations or unaware of the importance of witnessing police behavior. We understand now, with what happended after our separation, why others didn't stick behind to see what happened. We feel it is very effective to work in solidarity for justice and desire to do so with other cyclists who were harrassed, cited or otherwise abused.


SIDENOTE_____
We have experience working with police accountability groups in the San Francisco Bay Area, and are also wondering what is currently being done as far as copwatching, and other actions observing police, know your rights trainings, etc. -please email eric at  fatmanwalking13@hotmail.com

e-mail:: scodys@yahoo.com