Tucson Cops Spoil Tuesday Night Bike Fun : AZ IMC

Over 200 bicyclists have been meeting on the University of Arizona campus every Tuesday night at 8pm, in front of Old Main, and riding around central Tucson for a couple hours. Every week the ride was a largely carefree activity and tremendous fun for everyone, with no injuries, no attention from the police, and not even much complaining or shouting from the slightly inconvenienced motorists who happened to intersect with the pedallers.

However, this week the cyclists arrived at the meeting place to find the boys in blue waiting for them - about 5 motorcycle cops, 8 bicycle cops, 6 police cars, a van, and a huge flatbed truck (later it was clear that this was intended to transport the impounded bicycles of arrested bikers). This posse proceeded to escort the ride along its usual route, even blocking traffic at all intersections for the riders. But it wasn't all fun and games. The motorcycle cops piloted their smelly and noisy machines at high speeds up and down the line of bikes, occasionally barking terse instructions through their intercoms demanding that the bikers keep far to the right side of the street. One rider was overheard observing that she felt like she was "in a concentration camp."

One participant was actually arrested as a result of this policy. On a narrow, quiet street when the ride slowed, the rider, perched atop a tallbike (an extra high bike made from multiple bike frames welded on top of each other) that he rides every week, apparently had trouble keeping his steed far enough over for the cops' satisfaction. It was unclear to this writer and other witnesses exactly what he was being charged with, but he was handcuffed and taken downtown, and his high-altitude machine loaded into the police truck. Erik Ryberg, a lawyer specializing in defending bicyclists who was on the ride, hypothesized that the charge would probably be failure to obey a police officer. Others wondered if the arrestee had been singled out by the police because he was easily recognizable on his tallbike and had been on the previous night's ride against police brutality downtown.

Several other riders stopped to watch what the cops were doing and were yelled at to keep moving or they'd be arrested. The ride continued but shed many of its participants, with the police continuing their harrassment. It's unknown at this time if any other arrests or citations were made.

It's also unknown at this time what will happen to these wonderful weekly expressions of bike fun and street community now that the pigs are apparently intent on destroying it.