Shootout Bike Crash Caused By Police Officer. What was he thinking?

March 13th, 2008 at 3:49 am

It makes no sense what the officer did. I would love to hear his side of the story.

March 13th, 2008 at 9:12 am

Time to start packing some heat on the ride.

March 13th, 2008 at 10:17 am

We can’t let this go. The Pima County Sheriffs department has been using intimidation tactics in the Sahuarita area for years. This time they went too far and actually caused an accident. I agree with Adrian.. this bigoted officer of the law needs to be reprimanded seriously. Maybe he should be required to serve on bike-duity so he can see first hand what it’s like to share the road with jacked up work trucks. (Maybe he would lose that beer belly too)

March 13th, 2008 at 11:59 am

1995 a Tucson police officer did the same thing to a Thursday ride that included some high powered Tucson citizens including a physician. The physician complained to the police department but the complaint fell n deaf ears. The police department only supports it’s own and dosen’t really care about what happens to us cyclist. By the way, cyclist should at the minimum stay inside of the yellow line those idiots put everyone at risk trying to move up in the field. Pure stupidity its a training ride besides in a real race you’d be DQ’d!!!
Kurt Luedtke
Former cyclist (too smart to fu#k with cars anymore)

March 13th, 2008 at 4:41 pm

“Meka.” Heh.

March 19th, 2008 at 9:04 pm

As a Tucson Native and a long time cyclist, I have this to say:
Those who are riding on the Shootout had better start reading and obeying Arizona Statues as they relate to Cyclists.
Eric Post, who is a lawyer here in Tucson, has represented several cases related to auto/cycle incidents. Non-withstanding his comments at several locations, we have started a downhill slide that may end with the termination, by force of the Pima County Sheriff’s Office, of this ride. Folks, I for one, do not want this to happen. So, what do we do? OBEY THE LAW, even if it is a total pain where we sit. Two abreast is the law in Arizona. On the Native American Nations, of which this ride crosses two of them, the rule is SINGLE FILE AT ALL TIMES UNLESS PASSING. The Nation’s are also considering CLOSING ALL ROADS TO NON-NATIVE RIDERS AT ALL TIMES. Again, we, the cyclists are the cause of all of these problems. We need to ‘pack in’ our attitudes that we are ‘not bothering anyone at 6 a.m.’ and do what the law and common sense says to do. If we do not do so, we loose. And for what it is worth, there is a USD 2 Million dollar road improvement project, mostly for us, for a major portion of the Shootout ride. If we don’t wake up and start ‘playing nice’ the situation can get worse.
BTW, I ride the Shootout on a monthly basis and can state that some of the groups are wonderful and others (my mother said not to say anything bad about people so I will no say anything here.)
Lastly, the PCSO officer was not correct in the method of stopping the group per procedure. No lives nor property were in danger so he did not have to do a stop like he did. However, don’t be surprized, if in the future, we are not allowed to ride on the roads for the ride.
So, for the ride’s sake and to prevent future incidents, please ride safe and within the law.

March 22nd, 2008 at 9:36 pm

In order for this officer to be held accountable for his actions, it will be imperative for those who were hurt to do more than phone in and complain. Also, if the shoot out is to be preserved and given any consideration of how to preserve it without having it shut down by enforcement, it is imperative that those who participate take some time to become active in the political process of letting the various municipal politicians know how important it is to you, the community and to the reputation of the various municipalities. I know that those who participate are focusing on their own training and the rest of their life. However, the Tucson of the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s is gone. The cyclist must advocate for their own space and respect of that space. In other sports, baseball, football, basketball the space is a field or a gym specifically for their sport. Fantasy Island is an example of an off road route that has been threatened. When the time was right, hundreds of supporters of Fantasy Island showed up to the Houghton Area Master Plan meetings over 2 years ago and shared their support. Now it is important to show your support for continuing the Shoot Out and finding a way to elicit support from your civic leaders. As the saying goes “the squeaky chain gets the grease” Or wheel. Take the tiime to contact your city council to let them know how important it is to you that this region is bicycle friendly and that includes friendly to the Shoot out

April 1st, 2008 at 6:56 am

It seems the negative press and TV news reports surrounding this incident have quite possibly generated a greater negative bias towards those who enjoy the Shootout and related rides along that route. The following, is an account of coordinated harassment that occurred on the San Xavier Indian Reservation this past Saturday (3/29/08).

I typically ride the Dudeout (eastside term) or also referred to as either the Old Man Shootout or The Early Group that leaves about 15 minutes prior to the Shootout rides each Saturday. The incidents occurred just as we were starting to pick up the pace after Valencia heading south on Mission Rd. I was the lead rider at the time when a white four-door sedan came by the pack of approximately 20-30 riders that were in a single file paceline and passed very close to us. This occurred within the first half mile after entering the reservation. The car passed within about a foot of my handlebars it seemed and swerved to the right slightly, just in front of me. The man driving proceeded to flip us off and went on ahead. I courteously waved (no gestures – honestly. I don’t do that.), just a wave, and he went on up ahead, pulled off the rightside of the road at Los Reales and stopped, angling the nose of his car toward the road. At that point I yelled a “heads up” to the pack and cautiously watched him as we approached. When we were 50-100 yards from him and closing, he tore off from the side of the road, attempting to dust us out and spit rocks on the road. Fortunately, the breeze pushed the dust off the road and the angle of his car didn’t allow rocks to enter the roadway, and we kept going. The driver then slowed his vehicle while heading south on Mission, watching us in his rearview mirror. I was still on the front and was becoming really edgy about what stupid move this guy was going to pull next. I reached in my jersey pocket and pulled out my cell phone and as we closed the gap I made it very apparent I had a phone out and tried to make it look like I was dialing, hoping to get close enough to get the license number of the vehicle. He apparently saw I had the phone out because he floored it, taking off down Mission. At that point one of the riders behind me said something to the effect of, “We’ll see him again …”

We went another mile or so toward the area of houses prior to the S-turn adjacent Black Mountain (around San Xavier Mission Rd) , and there was a big Native American man, maybe 6’-4” or so standing right alongside the west side of Mission. Another heads up was yelled from the front. I was five or six riders back at that point. When we were within 10-20 yards of the man he stepped out in the roadway as if to slowly walk across the road but instead of walking across, after two steps, he stopped dead in front of the lead rider. We all braked and fanned out, narrowly avoiding the man. He was mumbling something when I went by like, “what’s up…” It was then that another rider said that was the same guy who was driving the white sedan.

Just after this incident but right down the road, on the east side of Mission beginning around San Xavier Mission Rd. and coming toward us, a two-tone (faded red or orange and white colored), I think late 70s, GMC shortbed, fleetside pickup began doing fishtails and kicking up allot of dust alongside the road. He did that for 25-50 yards causing a large dust cloud to blow across the road in an attempt to choke us out and obscure our view. It worked somewhat.

By now, it was getting spooky and the pack was definitely riding heads up looking for the next thing to come at us but nothing did that I am aware of. We headed on toward the bridge and the rest of the ride was uneventful from what I observed. I did stop at Helmet Peak Rd and Mission when I saw a Sheriff’s officer directing riders and traffic because of the Criterium Race going on out there that day. When I pulled up he was radioing that a vehicle was attempting to force riders off the road. I don’t know if it was related, something to do with the Crit or perhaps some other rider reported it but it was definitely getting weird out there that day.

I dropped a copy of this account off at the Tohono O’odham P.D. San Xavier substation on Monday. The officer I spoke to said there was no formal report or complaint process within their dept. for this type of activity. I was also told this account will be entered into the record at the 8 April Bicycle Advisory Committee (BAC) “Shootout” meeting. That meeting is scheduled for 5:30pm and will meet at the Ward 6 office. That office is 1 block south of Speedway and 1 block east of Country Club, use the back door.

Heads up while riding through that section of the rez.

April 25th, 2008 at 12:09 pm

I did the Dudeout (first group) last weekend, Apr. 19th and a white sedan with a driver of similar description did the same thing. Driving close and cutting in front of the lead rider. Then he slowed to a crawl effectively shutting down the pace for a mile or two. This dude is going to kill someone and probably sets his alarm for his Saturday morning hunt. Be careful out there.

April 27th, 2008 at 4:45 pm

It is quite possible that the incidents described above are acts of terror. As such, the Dept. of Homeland Security might be better able to handle the complaints of the affected cyclists. Punishment for such actions by individuals trying to harm others are much more severe and the added scrutiny of another type of law enforcement agency might be what is needed to diffuse this situation.
Don’t give in to bullies with or without badges.

May 1st, 2008 at 2:53 pm

Like ports said, its AZ and cyclist need to pack someheat!!! Bontrager has a new carbon fiber .45 pistol mount..

May 17th, 2008 at 6:20 pm

I remember the 1995 incident and knew the Dr very well - Wonder if Greg still spins the cranks. Anyway it seems to come and go in waves for some reason. I recall some getting severely hassled on the usual Wednesday ride for public, uh, water disposal on the side of the road.

Lay low - hassles for a while and then they find something else to do.

July 9th, 2008 at 1:01 pm

So what happened afterwards on this incident during the Shootout? Was any legaL action taken against the officer or the guy in the white car?

August 10th, 2008 at 8:47 am

I read the comments above - and I wanted to input on complaing to a governmental organization like the police.

As someone who has worked in local government for the past 20 years - If you complain to the police department, and they don’t want to do anything, expect nothing to be done. It will land on someone’s desk to be ignored.

If you want to be heard, you do have to follow procedures and make your complaint to the police - however, follow it up and complain to the elected officials. Get cyclists who are citizens IN THAT COMMUNITY to complain to the Mayor and City Council.

If you have someone complain to a Council Member - it has to be somone who lives in that voting district - or else it’s too easy for the elected official to blow it off with “Oh well, they can’t vote against me”.

Go to a City Council meeting to complain in public. Bring numbers of people (these audience members don’t have to live in the voting jurisdiction - you’d be surprised by how many Council decisions are changed when they have to face a group of unified citizens). Every City Council meeing has a public question or “Citizen pop-off” section. Get one member to represent the group and present the complaint - pick somone who has good public speaking skills and lives in the political division. Make it concise, keep within any time limits, and use facts, but appeals to emotions are also very effective (”If this issue isn’t handled - we expect one of our members to be killed or seriously injured). Tell them what the problem is - and this is very important - ask for what you want and provide a them solution.

The reason to do all this in a Council meeting is to make the elected officials squirm. Council meetings are usually televised and are almost always covered by local media. You may be able to get your issues covered by the local media (they may even want to interview someone after the meeting) - which places more pressure on the elected officials. Department heads - such as a police chief - are usually required to attend Council meetings - and you can bet that he/she will be squirming also.

I said Mayor and City Council throughout this ramble - the jurisdiction you have problems with may be a County or other political subdivision. Everything that you do, have someone document who you talked with, when, what the subject was and what they told you. When you go to Council - you can say something like “The police has sat on this for 2 months and nothing has been done, on ____ date Deputy Chief Smith said that he would investigate our complaint. To date, no one in our organization has been contacted with the outcome of the investigation”.

I could write a magazine article on how to get cycling greviences heard. However, I hope this summary helps.

November 2nd, 2008 at 10:11 pm

To me its just looks like that the officer had no work to do and he just thought that he needs to do something bizarre and crazy. He finally did exactly that.

March 26th, 2009 at 12:54 pm

[...] by police cars and pulled to the ground from moving vehicles last Saturday, I was reminded of this 2008 incident during a popular training ride in Tucson. On a related note, I stumbled on a blog by another, less [...]