Go Green, Go to Jail
Posted by Karoli in News June 19th, 2007
At least, that seems to be the case in Minnesota. A friend sent an email about Stephan Orsak today and his story is also on BoingBoing. The photo to your right is Stephan Orsak with his bicycle. Orsak, a professional violinist, chose to ride his bicycle away from the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport, on his way to visiting his daughter and grandchildren.
After being stopped by airport police for no apparent reason, having a discussion with them about his choice to ride a bike instead of driving, and receiving several sets of conflicting instructions from them, he was thrown to the ground, tasered twice, and had his glasses crushed in the process. Rather than re-telling his story, I’ll point you toward the relevant documents, which I read before I wrote this. They are:
- Orsak’s story, in his own words. Be sure to read through the comments for an idea of the diverse perspectives on whether or not the charges were justified. Some will scare you. What should scare you is knowing that such attitudes are not unusual in today’s US of A.
- Full Police Report/Narratives of the Incident
- Motion to Dismiss/Legal Arguments
- Links to photos, maps, route and related stories
- MN Bicycle Laws - Note that bicyclists are expected by law to ride on the road, respect traffic laws, and ride as close to the right as possible.
- MN Vehicle Laws
Jury selection begins for his trial on July 16th.
Some commenters on Orsak’s blogspot site seem to think that riding a bike is a “hobby”, instead of a legitimate mode of transportation. This follows on a trend I’ve seen more and more of lately — the bike-hating public, who thinks that people on bikes are some kind of perverse sector of society (yes, one commenter even said that Orsak was ‘gay and perverse’ — their words, not mine — for riding his bike) who live to make life difficult for the ‘righteous ones’ in auto-mo-biles.
I rode a bike as my primary mode of transportation all the way through high school and college. I didn’t get a drivers’ license until I was 18, and only then because not having it would have inconvenienced my mother. I rode to school, to work, to parks and to the beach, 20 miles or more away. I rode on the same streets that you drive on, fully cognizant that I had a duty to abide by the rules of the road, yield to other vehicles and signal my intentions just as they did. This was before bike lanes were the norm and somehow we all managed to get along.
Somewhere through the years, it became a “hobby”? When, exactly, was that? I gave it up when I was nearly run down by a guy in a big truck and I had The Eldest in a child seat on it. Inhabiting the same road as the big boys carried too much risk for me to put my child on a bike and ride on the same streets which had felt so safe to me as a child.
In these days of $3+/gallon gas, why are we making targets out of bicyclists? And when did we start living in a country where someone riding a bike, posing no threat to the officers (by their own account there was no gesture worthy of a taser hit, much less the rest of it), breaking NO LAW, can be treated in such a shameful fashion?
This is another ‘get the word out’ kind of thing. Orsak shouldn’t be charged with anything, much less six counts of trumped-up self-justificatory pseudocrap intended to cover up unfair, unlawful and unjust acts on the part of the airport police.
Ordinarily, this is where I’d qualify my post by saying I’m sure most police officers are wonderful, law-abiding citizens. I’m not sure I think that anymore. It seems that the paranoia and apathy of recent years, combined with paranoid leadership are encouraging the good guys to become the bad guys.
Technorati Tags: stephen orsak, orsak, bicycling, minneapolis, police state, police action, injustice
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…living life in 19/7 time 
Alright, I will make no apologies for any harm that was inflicted upon mr. Orsak exagerrated or truthfully illustrated. What I will note is the stupidity of his being where he was on a bike. There is no suitable way to leave the airport via a road that does not cross ina and out of restricted area. The Glumack Rd I know is a highway and 30 MPH quickly becomes 55 MPH upon leaving the airport. A nice alternative for someone who has “done (his) homework” would have been taking the LRT (Light Rail public transit) for FREE to the HHH terminal and been on his merry way. In fact, for 1.50 he could have gone 1 or 2 stops towards MPLS and been that much closer to his destination in St Paul.
I really think many blogs have misinterpreted this as lash-out against bikers, to which I laugh heartily; this man was trying to bike on a @*#@! freeway! The police were doing there jobs (up until the point of he said/she said at least).
a map of said Glumack Drive:
http://maps.google.com/maps?tab=il&hl=en&q=%22glumack%20dr%22%20msp
Thank you, Karoli, for your blog entry and helping spread the word.
Emily Gurnon of the St Paul Pioneer Press just published an excellent, balanced story on this incident- http://www.twincities.com/ci_6220737?nclick_check=1
I posted the following to the Star Tribune road guy blog. Perhaps this will clear up some questions about the route I planned to take:
1 June 07
Greetings to all, I’m Stephan Orsak, the violinist/cyclist who was attacked by Airport police. I’m happy to answer any questions, and really appreciate all of your responses to this. I also urge you to visit my blog greencycles.blogspot.com, post a comment there, download or forward a poster and let others know about this. Full case details are on my website http://web.mac.com/stephanorsak
I’ve found many thoughtful comments here and on other forums. It helps me to know what questions people have. As for leaving MSP airport by bike, this used to be absolutely legal. It is true that BY CAR there is only one way to leave- one must use the highway. But by bike, one takes Outbound Road toward the highway (15mph to 30mph max, same as residential MPLS), then begin to take the ‘return to terminal’ ramp, but immediately get off the road and cross over the median to Northwest Dr, the parallel service road, ‘walk’ a few hundred feet as it is one-way, then ride the rest as it becomes two way traffic. It is very lightly travelled. From there, Post Road, crossing over the highway and to the Fort Snelling trails. Very nice once you’re there. HOWEVER, 4 months after my incident, police put up (4) new signs, strangely placed, prohibiting bikes. For the full scoop on this, see my website http://web.mac.com/stephanorsak/iWeb/Site/New%20signs.html
Also want to say that many other airports make it EASY to come and go by bicycle, and for airport workers to do the same. (Many concession workers are very low paid and the 2x daily transit fare is a lot.) For example, at the Friedrichsafen airport in Germany you exit the front doors, cross the street, and there is the bike trail, with benches, signs with mileage markers, a covered gazebo and large maps of the area. Easy. In Basel the bike trail goes right to the front doors of the airport, and you can even pluck raspberries for breakfast along the way (!).
I think skepticism can be a healthy thing. I would not expect anyone who doesn’t know me to believe this, just because I have told it. Instead, please have a look at the police evidence, and read their narratives, and judge for yourselves if what they are saying makes any sense at all. Both scans and pure text versions of what the police have written are on my website. Also check out the slideshows on the signs. You’ll be amazed.
Thanks again to all, cheers and peaceful wishes, Stephan
I just got back from a vacation in Colorado where biking is really considered a form of transportation (Boulder, especially). I felt comfortable biking the streets of Boulder even when I should have been wearing a helmet. Drivers give you the right of way, they don’t pass you in the turn lane, they don’t play chicken.
Ahh, that was a sweet ride. Now back in Illinois I hug that bike path as if both tires would go flat if they touched the road.