[Infowarrior] - Fwd: Ride a bike without a light, get tasered and charged

Tue Jun 17 11:17:54 UTC 2008

(c/o DanO)

Begin forwarded message:

>
>
> <http://bikeportland.org/2008/06/11/man-on-a-bike-is-tackled-then-tasered-by-portland-police/ 
> >
>
> Man on a bike is tackled, then tasered by Portland Police
>
> Posted by Jonathan Maus (Editor) on June 11th, 2008 at 4:20 pm
> Photo from the scene at SE 7th and Alder
> last night.
>
> A Portland man says he was tackled, pushed off his bike, and then  
> tasered repeatedly by a Portland Police officer in Southeast  
> Portland last night.
>
> The Portland Police Bureau, in a written statement about the  
> incident, say that Phil Sano (a.k.a. "Rev Phil") did not have a  
> front light on his bicycle and that he refused to stop when officers  
> requested.
>
> The incident occurred around 9:30pm on SE 7th Street, just north of  
> SE Morrison Ave. Phil Sano says he was riding along and felt cold,  
> so he went to zip up his jacket. Then, in an email he sent me just  
> hours after the incident, he wrote,
>
>    "Across the street a man in all black shouted at me and started  
> walking my way. I stopped pedaling, but didn't stop because my hands  
> were not on my brakes. He then sprinted, lunged and tackled me. I  
> then scuffled to separate him and stood apart from him in a  
> defensive position."
>
> Then, Sano says, he was tasered several times.
>
> "I felt a sharp sting in my back and heard a repetitive clicking. I  
> turned around to see that I was being tasered!"
>
> At that point, Sano maintains he still did not know what was going  
> on and he repeatedly asked the officers to explain what he had done  
> wrong. At that point, Sano says two officers were holding him down  
> and he could still feel the taser charge flowing into his back.
>
> "I was still freaked out and yelled again, why are you shooting me?"
>
> Sano says the cops yelled for him to "get down", but that he still  
> had no idea who was accosting him. He wrote, "It was pretty dark and  
> they were wearing all black without any sort of shiny badgeŠ. They  
> looked kinda' like cops, but generally cops do not tackle bikers  
> unless it is Critical Mass."
>
> According to Sano, he was tasered "point blank" in the chest and the  
> lower back and that he began to "spasm out of control as the surge  
> of electricity involuntarily constricted" his muscles.
>
> "Šthe cop took two steps after him, grabbed him by the shirt, yanked  
> him off the bike, ran hum up the sidewalk and slammed him against  
> the wall and then right away started tasing him."
> -Diana Spartis (she witnessed the entire incident)
>
> After pleading repeatedly for them to stop, Sano says they continued  
> and that, "without question, I could tell they enjoyed seeing me  
> become so helpless, so weak. It was humiliating."
>
> Once the tasering stopped, Sano said he laid in a small puddle of  
> his own urine, breathing irregularly and "seething with rage".
>
> "I can still feel their knee on my neck as I write this, but even  
> then I knew they were in the wrongŠ really, really fucking wrong."  
> He added, "There was no cause for such violence; I was not harming  
> anyone and I made sure that everyone within earshot knew it."
>
> Sano says that all the while, a barb from the taser remained lodged  
> in his chest. Luckily, he remembers, a passing ambulance heard him  
> screaming, stopped on the scene, and removed the electrode from his  
> chest. Sano says that the EMT, "was very concerned" that his  
> speeding heart rate would not slow down.
>
> Once everything calmed down, Sano says the cops told him that he was  
> stopped because he didn't have a front light.
>
> Sano admits he didn't have his front light on his bike, because  
> someone had stolen the cradle it attaches to. He says the cops found  
> his light in his fannypack a few minutes later.
>
> According to Sano's recollection of the incident, he heard Officer  
> Smith say, "You should have stopped when I told you to. Then none of  
> this would be necessary."
>
> A written statement just released by the Portland Police Bureau's  
> Public Information Officer Brian Schmautz says that the officers  
> were in uniform and were dealing with another woman and had "turned  
> on their lights to alert traffic while they talked to her."*
>
> Then, writes Schmautz, they saw Sano roll by without a light and,  
> "One of the officers told Sano to stop, but Sano ignored him." Here  
> is the rest of Schmautz's statement:
>
>    "The officer, then reached out to stop Sano and they began to  
> struggle. Sano refused to comply with any of the officers orders and  
> continued to resist until additional officers arrived. The officers  
> attempted to Taser Sano, but it was ineffective because of Sano's  
> clothing.
>
>    Sano was eventually arrested and taken to jail. Sano apparently  
> admitted he had been drinking, but was not given field sobriety  
> tests because the officers were not arresting him for DUII. FYI, the  
> officers checked Sano's history and learned that the Police Bureau  
> had given Sano a warning for a bike light and a free bike light in  
> the past."
>
> _________
>
> Diana Spartis, a 28 year-old Sellwood resident, was being cited for  
> not having a light on her bike when the incident took place. On the  
> phone with me this morning, she said Officer Smith was telling her  
> about the importance of having a light when Sano rode by on the  
> other side of the street.
>
> Spartis says the Officer noticed Sano also didn't have a front light  
> then yelled at him to stop. She then told me, "He [Sano] didn't stop  
> immediately, and the cop took two steps after him, grabbed him by  
> the shirt, yanked him off the bike, ran him up the sidewalk and  
> slammed him against the wall and then right away started tasing him."
>
> Sartis recollects that she was "maybe 50 feet away" and says, "I did  
> not see him [Sano] do anything physical to the copsŠ he wasn't  
> cooperating fully, but he also wasn't doing anything that should  
> have provoked them that much. He was screaming, 'no! no!, why are  
> you doing this?'"
>
> _________
>
> The two officers involved in the incident were Officers Erin Smith  
> and Ron Hoesly. Both are members of the Traffic Division.
>
> I have no knowledge of Officer Smith other than this report from a  
> Critical Mass ride back in February of 2005.
>
> Officer Hoesly is a motorcycle cop. Back in August of 2006 I joined  
> Officer Hoesly for a ride-along. I frequently see Hoesly around town  
> and he is always friendly and congenial.
>
> Hoesly and Smith initially charged Sano with Resisting Arrest,  
> Attempted Escape III, and Disorderly Conduct. He was also cited for  
> not having a front light (ORS 815.280) and Failure to Obey a Police  
> Officer (ORS 811.535).
>
> (UPDATED*) At his arraignment at the Justice Center in downtown  
> Portland a few hours ago, Sano says the clerk told him he had been  
> given a "no-charge". *According to a source who is a lawyer that  
> means (for whatever reason) the case is not going forward, but the  
> charges can brought back to life at a later date. My source says  
> this could be an indication that either the police or the DA's  
> office didn't think they could prove, or didn't want to try to  
> prove, the charges.
>
> This isn't the first time Sano has had run-in with the police.  
> During the 2006 World Naked Bike Ride, Sano was involved in an  
> altercation with an off-duty police officer who was the passenger in  
> a motor vehicle that was being held up during the ride. Sano alleged  
> that the vehicle's driver tried to run him over.
>
> In that case, Sano was charged with several misdemeanors (including  
> Criminal Mischief and Disorderly Conduct) and faced 2 1/2 years in  
> jail. The case was ultimately dismissed and Sano was set free.**
>
> (This incident is being discussed on the Zoobomb Forum and in the  
> Portland Bike Forums.)