NYPD confiscating bikes before Obama’s Earth Day visit.
Citing security concerns that bikes might be secret pipe bombs, NYPD officers clipped the locks of hundreds of bikes along Houston Street this morning in preparation for President Obama’s speech at Cooper Union. The bikes were unceremoniously put in the back of the truck.
I doubt very much that you could stuff enough chemical explosive into a bike frame to damage the presidential limo from the sidewalk.
But if they were REALLY afraid that the bikes might be bombs shouldn’t the bomb squad be dealing with them instead of a couple of guys and a truck?
These days, they call out the SWAT team for a stray circuit board and I’m supposed to believe the bike bomb story?
Nope. I call bullshit.
As both an escapee of NYC and an ex-bike messenger, I can tell you that the NYPD has a documented hostility towards cyclists. It’s really hard, in the context of city streets, to control someone on a vehicle that, although slower, is far more manuverable and can fit into spaces that a patrol car cannot. Please don’t ask me how I know that, m’kay?
Plus, since there isn’t any sort of licensing or registration, they cannot steal from, um, cite cyclists for traffic infractions.
In the 90’s, when I was doing the messenger thing, we had radios, so our backup always arrived before their backup did. Again, don’t ask me how I know this. And it’s not as though we had guns or anything, because those are illegal in NYC. 🙂
I agree. This was someone “doing something” to make it look like they were serious about terrorism. And it’s not just Obama that brings this out in security. When Cheney came to Louisville, they shut down all traffic on I-65 while his plane landed and took off. Not sure what that was all about. If Al Qaeda can bring a 747 down while driving 55 mph, then we have bigger problems.
What are they doing about possible car bombs? Bet you could do more damage with one of those than a puny bike bomb.
I thought they’d gotten over their hard on for cyclists… Guess not…