Like 'em or loathe 'em, your union's got your back, right?
Not always. Do something egregious enough and you're liable to find yourself standing alone.
Suspended IMPD Officr David Bisard is finding that out; in the wake of his most recent DUI arrest, the Indianapolis Fraternal order of Police has voted to stop paying his legal bills. I guess there is a limit to how far the "thin blue line" can be stretched before it snaps.
Attorneys aren't like the gas bill; his lawyer can't just walk away, he's got to go before the judge and convince him (you'd think, "Client isn't paying, I'll starve," would be enough but perhaps not). And this may well complicate and stretch out the already-convoluted and overly-slow legal proceedings.
(Elsewhere in Indy, another car-motorcycle accident last night, three riders injured. Y'know those "Be Aware! Motorcycles Are Everywhere!" bumper stickers? Cars are even more everywhere and many drivers won't notice a motorcycle until the rider is bouncing off the hood. Be careful out there. The other guy isn't.)
Thanks for the bike safety plug - the cagers need to be reminded once in a while that there are mobile balancing acts sharing the roads with them and you did a sweet job.
ReplyDeleteWe need all the publicity we can get.
Something I learned when I was riding, it's not paranoia if they really are trying to kill you.
ReplyDeleteAnd they really are trying to kill you.
The one thing that stuck in my head from the Motorcycle Safety Foundation course I took was, "Ride like you're invisible." Most drivers do see you, but it only takes one who doesn't to ruin your day.
ReplyDelete"his lawyer can't just walk away, he's got to go before the judge and convince him"
ReplyDeleteThat's one reason many lawyers are picky about what cases they take. Normally getting out of a case is just a formality (the usual reason cited - at least around here - is "irreconcilable differences"), but occasionally the judge decides not to allow it. If that happens, the attorney is stuck working essentially for free until the case is done - which can sometimes be a couple of years.
We recently had a big bikefest here in the town I live in, so I had the dubious pleasure of driving down a road filled with people on motorcycles. I try to be extra careful, pay attention, use my turn signals, etc., but it seemed like a good portion of the bikers were driving as though they had the right of way no matter what and that cars are as agile as the bikes. Between the ones driving in packs filling the three lanes going one way at ten mph under the speed limits and the ones that were speeding like all the demons of hell were after them, I was in a cold sweat before I got out of the area. Not to mention the future organ donor that decided that a 50mph road was a good place to run a quarter mile doing a wheelie. It really put some emphasis into the Look Twice message: "Look twice, someone on a bike may be committing moronicide". I like to think it's just the tendency of otherwise sane people to do stupid things when in groups, but it is nerve wracking.
ReplyDeleteExcellent point Roberta, as an old fart, I can remember when cars didn't have AC or cell phones, so windows were down and people actually paid ATTENTION to the @#$% road... sigh
ReplyDeleteThere's a good number of bikers who don't notice the car until they're bouncing on the hood too.
ReplyDeleteRide like 90% can't see you and the other 10% are trying to hit you. Best advice my dad ever gave me.
Stop using cager. It's like biker-klan speech.
Not real fond of the "cager" term, myself. When I'm not riding my Harley, I'm driving my truck. So I'm a cager with all the handicaps associated with that name?
ReplyDeleteMotorcycle Blindness is how I have a torn ACL and a steel rod and 4 big honkin steel screws in my leg, along with a left thumb that doesn't bend all the way and a torn right rotator cuff. The only benefit, my Honda and I totaled his car while it totaled me.
ReplyDeleteLet's just all be careful out there. On the roads, everyone is someone else's moron, some fraction of the time -- and that's all it takes.
ReplyDeleteIt takes an obvious lost cause for the FOP to abandon one of their own. We had a situation in Whitley county back in the late '70's or early '80's where a town marshall that watched too many Bufford Pusser movies got the idea that HE was the law. He almost dragged two state police officers down with him, and they should have gone down with him as they were on duty and quietly stood by while he pulled the stunt that ended his career. Once the Fort Wayne news papers caught wind of the story, investigated and published, the FOP dropped the guy like a hot potato. Last I heard the former town marshall was working as a security guard at a coal mine in West Virginia.
ReplyDelete