Ducati Monster Forum

If anyone could attend I would appreciate it, if not, it's cool... But I'll start from the begining...

I will share what happened to me on 11/29/07 and I'm going through the legal process now.

This is gonna be long...

What I think what I can say without affecting my case is that an officer from a different jurisdiction than the one I was riding in, thought I was a crazy squid and not a 35 year old father of 3 and possibly had motorcycles run from him in the past and had a chip on his shoulder. So one morning on my way to work he didn't like the way I was riding and figured he would get the big, bad, evil sportbike rider.

I have ridden & driven this way to work for the last 3 years, 6 days a week, and never had a problem. I never saw him behind me, and was busy paying attention to the traffic in front of me because I was entering a construction zone that had been set up for the last 4 weeks, and was merging into traffic. He came up punched me in the left shoulder. I was shocked!!  He pulled along side me and I finally did see him and gestured that I was going to pull over at the first safe spot. I guess in his mind he felt I should stop right in a one lane construction zone and get ran over, so he pulled up and He followed that up with kicking me in my thigh once, kicking my bike twice, then rammed me with his light bars twice, with the final time forcing me into a curb causing me to crash. The entire time I was screaming at the top of my lungs "Stop it, I'm pulling over, what's wrong with you!!".

After I crashed I got to my feet with my hands up and pointed the 20 feet or so to the turn in to a junior high school that I was planning to pull into and yelled that I was pulling over. He ran up to me grabbed me by my backpack actually lifted me off of my feet and slammed my head into the ground, luckily I was wearing a full face helmet.

He then put his entire weight on my back, thank God for Dainese back protectors, and tried to cuff me, he was yanking on my arms because I was wearing Dainese gauntlet gloves and he couldn't get the cuffs on, I was yelling that "I can help you, I can get the gloves off with my arms behind my back", he yelled at me that he didn't need my help and continued cranking my shoulders until a Chandler Officer came up and assisted him. After this, he found out that I have my license, motorcycle endorsement, registration, insurance, no warrants, etc. and was on my way to work and figured he would charge me with a bunch of false charges to save his a** and his job...

Unfortunately the legal system in AZ is very. Ummm. ******ed up... they treat you like crap and you are pretty much guilty until proven innocent. When I was put in a car, I heard other officers telling him good job, and stuff, and I'm thinking to myself, good job for what? Crashing an innocent man on his way to work?? He really was being treated like he stopped a killer or rapist or something, and after seeing that, I got scared and saw first hand how some cops really see sportbike riders as the enemy...

They mocked me for the safety gear I was wearing, and pretty much treated me like a dog. This happened at 7:00 a.m. on a Thurs. One of the Chandler Officers was nice enough to use my cell phone to call one of my employees to let him know I wouldnt be in to work because I was being arrested for felony flight from the Officer, and other trumped up charges.

It was payday, so I wasnt at work to do payroll, I had to give my emplotees permission to forge my signature so that they could get paid. One of my employees had to come to the sub station and pick up my personal belongings, they didn't give me a bail amount until 6:30 p.m. that evening, the same employee came to the jail about 1 1/2 hours distance from my home with my wife and stayed there with her since it's not the best part of town, she paid the bail a little after 8 p.m., I finally got out at 5:30 a.m. the next day, Friday.

My wife and I both needed to be at work, so we went home, showered and went to work. I told the employee that was with my wife to go home and get some sleep and come in later that afternoon. After work I went to urgent care, they sent me by ambulance to the hospital and I was there until 4 a.m. Sat., nothing serious, just some bad aches and pains, especially on my left side, but I wasn't too bad off because I was wearing full gear. I went home got a couple hours of sleep and went to work on Saturday.

On that following Monday got a good attorney ($$$$$$$$) and now I wait and see what happens.

I've read the police report and pretty much, a lot of what he is claiming happened didnt happen, and just plain isn't possible. I've videotaped the route in a vehicle for evidence in court...

The worst part about this, is that another motorcyclist did this to me.

Even now, that just seems so out of the realm of reality to me. I'm confused and I'm angry that this guy has this power to try to ruin someone's life on a whim. What if he did this to my wife who rides, or my mother-in-law who rides, or an inexperienced rider or someone not wearing gear?

How can he live with himself?

I'm not bashing cops, because I have met a ton of nice ones but it's guys like this cop though, that really have no place having this type of power in their hands.

Well my trial is Tuesday 6/10/08 if any of you could attend my trial... It is at 10:30 a.m. at 101 W. Jefferson in Phoenix at the Court building... Not sure of what courtroom yet, but the jury selection is in room 612, so it may be in that room... My attorney wants to show that motorcycle riders come from all walks of life and all different ages... If any of you could make it I would very much appreciate it!!

I read your story on SouthWest Rides and was literally shaking from anger at the thought of it.  What a nightmare.  I think about it every time I ride now, and it has changed my perception of the "dangers" of riding a motorcycle.

I'll try to be there if I can, interested in the process.

Holy Shit!

Good luck with this deal.

I hope it all works out for you!

I will be there. That is complete bullshit. Hope it makes a difference with us being there...

Chris

I appreciate the responses... Unfortunately my wife is back in the hospital and it's not looking good that she can attend, which really sucks, cause she's really my strength... I'm so used to her being by my side, that her not being there is gonna make me feel like a part of me is missing... Most people who have met us, have met her first, I'm a pretty quiet, shy guy, so without her going up and introducing us and stuff, I wouldn't know that many people... lol... I'm not the type to go up and introduce myself... now after I get to know someone I never shut up... lol... but it's hard for me to just go up to people...

So, are we still on for tomorrow morning? Sorry to hear about your wife, but if you still want the support, I will be there...

Chris- Are you riding?  I'm riding to work (TT Roadhouse later on...), so if I go I'll be on the bike, most likely in business casual attire under my mesh/helmet/gloves.

I will be riding. Haven't been working since May 30th. Final tile is being laid as we speak. Anyone wanna rent a 4bd 2ba 2200 sq ft in Glendale? $1550 a month...

My wife got out of the Hospital last night, we may finally have an answer for what's been affecting her for the last 6+ months, so thats a bit of good news... The Dr. told her that she should not attend, but she wants to attend anyways... I am trying to talk her out of it, I do want her there and I appreciate her risking her health to support me, but I love her too much to be selfish about it...

It is definitely on in room 612, we picked the jury yesterday...

I appreciate everyone that is going to try to attend, or that has me in their prayers... I wanted to make sure to thank you all...

It is going on 1 more day, 10:30 a.m. today 6/11/08 should be the last day and it should only take half a day, it ended yesterday with part of my testimony which I will continue today...

Again, I really want to thank all that attended... you guys & gals do not know how much it meant to me that you showed up for support!!! My attorney asked me if it would be a distraction, and I said "no, but I may breakdown" I'm a pretty sensitive guy, and like I said it really meant a lot...

So how do you feel it went?

Glad it went well yesterday. Sorry I couldn't make it today, just too beat. Please let us know when the jury is done deliberating...

Not guilty!!!!!!!!

 [clap] [clap] [clap]  Yeaahhhaayyah!!!  [clap] [clap] [clap]

Congrats!

It's civil suit time!

NICE!!  [thumbsup] [thumbsup]

Sorry, Congratulations too!

I am starting to catch up on all the stuff I'm behind on at work, so I will post up more of what happened... The jury deliberated for about 20 minutes, if that, so pretty much they knew that I was innocent...

What I do want to say is that I have forgiven the Officer, he's a 17 year veteran, he used to be in the Maryvale & South Mountain area, and I don't want to stereotype, but I'm sure he dealt with some "not so nice" people... So I'm sure that the good he has done for the community far outweighs any bad... I've f&&ked up at times, and I'm sure some of you have also, and if we want people to forgive us for our mistakes, I need to do the same thing... I do hope that he maybe talks to the Police psychologist or that after this he realizes not everyone out there is a "bad guy", there are still A LOT of good people out there... Yes he has to stay on his toes or unfortunately in this day & age end up shot by some scumbag, but he also needs to be able to not be so quick to judge people negatively...

It still hasn't hit me that it's over, my body & mind have been used to 7 months of stress... Stress on me, my family, my friends, so I'm sort of on auto pilot right now, sort of numb... I had a dream last night that I was still at the trial so subconciously & emotionally I need to detox right now...

Again, I want to thank everyone who attended, it really did keep me strong and keep me positive... I know there are a lot of people that support me and I don't think I'll ever be in this type of position again, justifiably or not, because I don't want anyone to have to go through this type of thing again...

That's a great result -- I would say congratulations, but "boy, I wish this had never happened in the first place" seems more appropriate. And though I'm considered to be very quick -- sometimes way too quick -- to forgive, I admire but find a hard time agreeing with your willingness to forgive the officer. I genuinely like police officers, and value their service immensely in a difficult, stressful job. But intentionally crashing a motorcycle is a pretty close cousin to use of deadly force; he could very easily have killed or maimed you with that action. Not to stereotype either, but I'd wager he's not chatting with the department psychologist right now wondering what induced him to do that to a guy just trying to get to work (and dealing with the issues that will make him do something similar in the future), but commiserating with his comrades about how another dirtbag perp got sprung by a hopeless judicial system. Bet he's hearing a lot of agreement, too.

I completely understand that, with everything else going on in your life, you want this completely, totally behind you. I'd feel exactly the same in your shoes. But for the sake of all of the rest of us who ride in Arizona, I'd ask you to at least print out the description of the event you posted initially and submit it to the appropriate community relations or other department down at the PD.

It's great that you have forgiven him, I admire that. I don't think I would be so forgiving in that situation. Because of where he's worked and for so long, he is not likely to change.

If it were me, I would still some sort of action against him and the department. If for no other reason to recoup the damage to your bike and gear, as well as your lawyer's fee...