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Akaroa Cop (part 2)
by , 25th October 2011 at 20:51 (3918 Views)
Right, for those of you who are interested (if you're not stop reading now) in what actually happened in Akaroa - here goes.....(deep breath) It was a beautiful Monday and myself and 4 other bikers decided to go to Akaroa for a relaxing ride/lunch. We got there and had a nice lunch at a local establishment that was dominated by a group of grossly intoxicated locals accosting young women off the cruise ships and yelling obscenities at them if they didn't stop and pay the drunken idiots some attention. Meanwhile the local police car drove past 2-3 times and was apparently comfortable with visitors to our country being harassed and abused by intoxicated persons on a licensed premises that were STILL being served alcohol. (would pay to mention these 3 guys were actually chasing women down the footpath and trying to physically stop them from getting past..... apparently however this is ok)
After over an hour of listening to these idiots and seeing the police were clearly turning a blind eye we finished our meals and headed for our bikes which we had ridden up onto the footpath by Bully Hayes and had parked on the shingle. I was the second to last one to set off from our group of 5 bikes - rather than risk damaging the belly pan on my bike by going over the gutter (i didn't ride up the gutter to get onto the footpath - i went up the dropped curb) i travelled approx 10 mtrs at walking pace (i know this as i was behind two people walking ) to get to the next dropped curb so I could get off easily. I would like to point out that at this point - no pedestrians had to take measures to avoid me as there were only 2 actually on the footpath and they were in front of me and they were travelling the same direction I was. No body was inconvenienced or put at risk by me doing this - both of my feet were on the ground at all times! At this point I approached where I intended to get onto the road but was unable to as a police car had stopped and the police officer was talking to me (i couldn't actually hear what he was saying over the sound of the V-twin .... oh and I was wearing a helmet) I indicated to him that I couldn't hear what he was saying at which point he got quite animated and was clearly unhappy. I still couldn't hear what he was saying but figured out by his excitable hand gestures he wanted me to get off the footpath..... at this point I politely pointed out to him that as soon as he moved his police car I would be able to get onto the road (he was actually blocking my ability to get onto the road with his vehicle) he took exception to me pointing this out and by this stage I started to lose my cool as there was traffic backing up behind him (being a one way road) and he was getting agro at me for not getting off the footpath when he was blocking my way!!! And shock horror I said "move your efffin car officer and I will be able to get off the footpath"! He didn't respond well to this lol - he told me to follow him to the fire station - which I was happy to do.
I pulled up along side his drivers door at the fire station so we could talk - he tried to open his door and opened it onto my bike (we were parked between the wall and the building not a lot of room but its the spot he chose to park - hence why I rode up to the window - i figured he wanted to talk to me without getting out as there wasn't a lot of room) so he attempted to open his car door it hit my handle bars - I was just about to put my bike in gear to move forward so he could get out of the car when he tried to open it again onto my bike and gave it a good push. At this point I pushed his door shut and told him to effin wait a second and I'll move my bike forward. I did this and he got out of the car. He then tried to grab my keys (for what reason I am unsure as I was fully complying with everything he had requested) I blocked my keys so he was unable to grab them. He then asked me what I thought I was doing riding down the footpath. I explained to him I thought it was pretty obvious what I was doing and that I had been parked and was getting back onto the road. I can't remember how many times I called this police officer and idiot etc - I was certainly not pleasant to deal with! My philosophy in life is that people will treat you the same way they want you to treat them. This police officer was hostile, rude and condescending, hence he received the same attitude from me that I got from him. He didn't like it. He told me he was going to ticket me for being on the footpath and I swore at him a lot more and asked why I got singled out for the special treatment (4 other bikes had literally pulled out in front of him off the footpath) apparently the 5-10 seconds if that it took me to get to the dropped curb was unacceptable and so I was going to be ticketed. At this point I was sick of swearing at the clown and went down the road to take a photo of all the other bikes that were currently occupying the same place as we had all just left from. I told him the reason I was doing this was because I would be contesting any ticket he issued me and I looked forward to him explaining to the judge why I was being ticketed when all the other bikes that were currently parked would also have to travel on the footpath to get back to the road!! I still have that picture if anyone wishes to see it and none of the bikes rego's can been seen so no riders can be identified! For some reason at this point the officer decided he would give me a "warning this time but next time it'll be a ticket" (I wonder why this is....) He then proceeded to issue me a ticket for the infringement he mentioned in his post.
Now the reason this was originally posted under another profile is because after the ride I was back at one of the other bikers places and was still fuming about my dealings with this officer - I thought other bikers needed to be aware that I had been told ticketing for been on the footpaths was going to start - this is what he said that this was a warning next time was a ticket!!! So my friend was already logged onto KB and I couldn't remember my password (as it had been sometime since I'd been on the site) and she graciously allowed me to post under her profile. There was never any intention to mis-lead anyone... i will be parking in car parks over there from now on as I know what that officer said to me.
At the end of the day there were two people that were involved in this - myself and Lyle..... him and I both know what was really said during this altercation. Feel free to judge and make up your own mind as you see fit. I will not be commenting anymore on this matter as I have spoken with a Senior Sergeant of the NZ police this evening (who is actually a close personal friend) due to information that Lyle felt was appropriate to make public this will now be the focus of an official PCA investigation. Safe riding out there everyone - have a lovely evening.
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