There is a bizarre story out of Fort Worth Texas where a driver videotaped a police officer spraying what appears to be pepper spray at a group of oncoming motorcyclists. The video below is slowed down to show the officer clearly spraying what looks like mace at the group as they drive by.
The group was composed of 200 motorcyclists and were traveling up northbound U.S. 287 in Fort Worth on Sunday afternoon. Before the incident, the police officer pulled over one of the motorcycle group’s “safety vehicles,” which follows behind bikers in case of an incident. Three of the people in the truck were given citations: the driver, for not having a license, and two others, for riding in the bed of a pickup truck.
It is not clear why the officer was spraying the bikers. One possibility is that he did not want bikers to get close to the side where he was dealing with the driver. If so, it is remarkably dumb since bikers would not react to the spray until they were passing. More importantly, if you blind or interfere with the control of the drivers — causing an accident.
Forth Worth police say that they had calls about reckless motorcycle drivers on the highways and videos show bikers doing wheelies and weaving. That hardly justifies random pepper spraying of drivers however.
Yesterday, Fort Worth police announced the officer in the video has been taken off patrol and put on administrative duties. He is a six-year veteran with the force.
Assuming that the officer did pepper spray oncoming bikers, what should the punishment be? This created the chance of a serious accident and, as an unjustified or unprovoked use of force, could be viewed as assault.
What do you think?
Its Texas……….Case closed
This was an egregious case of bad judgement on the part of the cop. Spraying an incapacitating chemical like mace or pepper spray at a group of motorcycle drivers could have caused multiple accidents. I would not prosecute this cop, but I would remove him from his job. Or at least remove him from any law enforcement position where he interacts with the public. Any of the riders who can establish injury should, of course, sue civilly.
As an asthmatic, I strongly believe the police should discontinue the use of respiratory irritants like mace or pepper spray. They cannot be controlled, as they can drift or blow on the wind onto innocent bystanders. And even when used on the target, it can be considered lethal force if the subject has respiratory difficulties. In this case, even if the bikers did not have underlying medical issues, they could be blinded, or swerve their bikes as they try to catch their breath, causing an accident.
And it is absolutely true that plenty of bikers are weekend warriors who hold 9-5 jobs during the week. Not all biker clubs are criminal. It wasn’t too long ago that bikers held a charity drive at a local restaurant.
This incident needs to be thoroughly investigated. I cannot conceive of a legitimate defense for spraying bikers as they rode past on a freeway. If there is a Move Over law in the state, then the appropriate response would seem to be a ticket.
I saw no link to the alleged “law” mandating motorists must clear the rightmost lane if possible. Till such link posts, this is purely hypothetical.
1. The second rightmost lane is occupied. When such is the case, I doubt the law states that all traffic in the rightmost lane must come to a screeching halt. Such law would be reckless and stupid and cause death and mayhem.
2. There’s 15 feet between the “officer” and the nearest line of motorcyclists. Unless the officer is drunk and might fall down easily, 15′ is a safe corridor. Further, the bikes require only half the clear space of an automobile and less than half vs. a truck. Further still, bikers are not on mobile phones, putting on makeup, eating, etc, as are most of the “cage” drivers. Science confirms mobile phone use equals or is worse than drunk driving for safety, another fact favoring the bikers.
3. Posters posit the appropriate punishment for violating the alleged “clear lane” law is for the officer to random spray pepper gas into a lane of traffic, which could blind riders and cause death/mayhem. Such legal theory is clearly even less informed than this “officer’s” actions.
My thought is to fire the officer and charge him with the maximum felony, attempted mayhem or similar. Sequence the two events for maximum effectiveness. If not, Houston should budget for multi million dollar future civil suit(s), as this idiotic “officer” shall surely kill someone innocent in the not too distant future, hopefully bambam.
Not getting how or why alleged body order of bikers is alleged to excuse felonious cop activity.
From the video, it looks like the officer’s feet are 2-3 inches from the lane of traffic.
It is a narrow shoulder, so I understand he doesn’t have much room.
But the bikers all seem to be way over to their left
….no lane change, but they seems to be way over toward the line on their left, and well away from the shoulder.
I can’t tell from the video how aggressive the lane changes would have to be for the bikers to all move over completely into the left lane, but it looks like pretty heavy traffic…in trying to funnel everybody into that left lane, it may have been more dangerous to do “a complete” lane change.
@ bam bam, it’s not a violation of the law not to move over so long as you slow down to 25 mph under the posted speed limit. I believe the speed limit there is 65, which means it’s perfectly legal to pass the cop’s pulled over car at 40. If you watch the video it’s clear they were going well under 65; looks like 40 or under to me. Regardless, whether they were technically violating some traffic law in no way excuses the cop’s illegal and seriously dangerous conduct. He should be fired and criminally prosecuted. Assuming he has a clean criminal history, I’d be fine with probation for a first offense.
The officer may have been irked by the fact that the bikers did not move over.
That doesn’t justify compounding the danger by spraying them with mace/ pepper spray as pass by.
If he had a safety concern, spraying those bikers doesn’t make anyone safer.
I am appalled at the ignorance and intolerance of the posters here in regard to “bikers”. While I can’t speak to this particular group, due to the dearth of information available on the incident. There are millions of bikers out there who hold full time jobs, bathe regularly, and do not commit criminal acts. They raise millions of dollars for charity every year by sponsoring group rides and ride for recreation and the joy of the open road.
My husband and I are both college professors and yes, we are also bikers. We belong to two different bike groups sponsored by two nefarious organizations – the American Legion and the Fraternal Order of the Eagles. Most of the times that you see a large group of bikes on the highway, they are out there as a group raising money for some charitable purpose. Yes, some of them will have long hair and tattoos, but they also have big hearts and warm smiles.
Got to move over when the lights are flashing. That lane belongs to the patrolman. Cop get a week of fishing. Case dismissed.
Texas does, in fact, have Move Over laws. The oncoming bikers were, therefore, flagrantly violating that law, placing the officer and the citizen in threat of grave danger by not moving to the next lane or slowing down to a speed of 20-25 miles per hour as they passed those two parked vehicles. The bikers, themselves, created a chance, or multiple chances, of serious injuries, by their wild and criminal conduct. In typical fashion, JT doesn’t mention that inconvenient fact and, instead, claims that the officer, alone, is the guilty party. Why am I not surprised?
Unfortunately, it doesn’t masterfully destroy the BO.
Jax Teller would not have stood idlely by.
I don’t know about the law in Texas, but in Missouri, drivers, who are passing a stationary police car, pulled onto the side of the road, are supposed to pull into the next lane, when possible, and avoid passing the police vehicle in the adjacent lane. Failure to do so will result in a traffic citation, if, of course, one is caught. I can only assume that this law was passed to avoid some of the accidents, which have occurred, when vehicles fly by these stopped vehicles, at a very high speed, placing the officer, along with the ordinary citizen, also parked on the side of the road, in grave danger.
Bikers and hygiene are never used in the same sentence for a reason.
“Bikers and hygiene are never used in the same sentence for a reason.”
Thus proving, sometimes bikers and hygiene are used in the same sentence for a reason.
Bravo! Masterful destruction of a stereotype.
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Assault with a weapon with intent to do great bodily harm. Class B Felony. If they do not charge him then the bikers need to get some pepper spray or mace and spray the cops. Turn about is fair play.
Who said that it was pepper spray? Just an assumption? Most probably, it was a can of spray deodorant that he was using to ward off the BO. Can’t say that I blame him. Bikers and hygiene are never used in the same sentence for a reason.
Hog wash.
Maybe the Neanderthal, obnoxious bikers should have been issued tickets instead of pepper spray?
Looks like the wind was blowing pepper spray back in cops direction.
chicken s**t (short guy, too)