Nonesuch,

Hey look, we're the last ones left. Everybody else is checking out the cadaver farm.

I did look at the map, and read the commentary, including Stephan Orsak's comments. The bottom line is that he was cycling on a road with a 30 mph speed limit, from which bikes aren't prohibited. And they tasered his ass.

That's what makes Orsak's story relevant to that of Lännen-Jukka. They're parts of the same pattern.

Tactically, it was a mistake to challenge the officer, regardless of who was in the right. ("You can beat the rap, but you can't beat the ride".) But there just isn't any way to read any description of the incident in which it was reasonable for the officer to draw his weapon on a middle-aged music teacher with a folding bicycle.

nonesuch: Here you go

Where I go? Some blogger from Australia? Whose analysis is based on the incorrect assumption that Orsak was riding on the part of the airport restricted to aircraft?

Nice legwork. You're a regular Cyd Charisse.

Look, I agree that the cyclist's web site tells his side of the story, and we don't know that the police officer was in the wrong without all the facts. We similarly can't assume that the cyclist was wrong. And those Minneapolis cops have quite a track record.

#17 posted by NoneSuch

Actually, Swell, with #2, the guy attempted to ride away on an expressway where bicycles were prohibited. They had to tackle him [. . .]

(The story at the time didn't contain this information, because it was one-sided. It's often necessary to do the legwork to find out the entire story before jumping to conclusions.)

Care to give us the benefit of your legwork? Because everything I can find online about the guy, whose name is Stephan Orsak, says that:

1. Cycling was not prohibited on the road (though "no cycling" signs were posted later).

2. He lived in the Minneapolis area and had cycled on that road on several previous occasions.

3. The road in question is the airport access road, not an expressway.

4. The cop not only brutalized him, he used a Taser on him.

If you know better, show us your sources. Frankly, the Minneapolis police don't seem to have a good track record.

http://web.mac.com/stephanorsak