"putting it down on its side on the pavement"

[Greg]

Another story (albeit tragic) of a rider having to "put it down". Now, if I interject myself into this story and replay it in my mind I honestly can't come to the decision the rider (a cop no less) made.

I'm riding along this street with a posted speed of 35mph. I'm probably doing 40mph and a little girl "suddenly darts into the street". I'm going to grab a handful of my front brake (along with my back brake) and do whatever I can to avoid this girl. As soon as I "lay it down" I'll have zero control over where the bike goes. I'm not going to purposefully "lay it on its side" (how do I even begin to DO that, I have no clue as to how that's done) and let the bike "skidded and flipped" into the girl.

These stories make me so angry (scratch that ... I choose to get angry over these stories) because they make riders look like complete idiots. Where is the investigative qualities that journalists are supposed to convey? Why doesn't the reporter question the choice the rider made?

http://www.suntimes.com/14432890-761/off-duty-cop-shoots-kills-angry-dad-after-wipeout.html

Picture is of "First Avenue in Maywood near Madison Street"

Rant over

[flyinlow]

I suspect in this case the officer may have tried to avoid the girl and lost control, all these guys have good training on riding. The "official" police release however says he ditched the bike in an effort to not hit the girl, which to the general public then makes it look like he was in control the whole time and made a conscious effort to avoid the girl. Its really about damage control, trying to show the officer was in complete control the whole time and made a conscious decision to try and save the girl. Instead of being mad about that, be mad about the father who A. allowed his little girl to run out in traffic and B. who then wanted to beat up a cop for hitting her, when it was his own fault in the first place.

Don't believe everything you read

[Deplorable, thank you!]

Frickin idiot cop probably won't even get a ticket. He should lose his license, his job and be imprisoned...let the inmates exact justice....

 
 So that road is a 40mph road (according to google street view and the posted sign)
 At that speed even a POS bike can stop in under 100'--there are not enough facts to know how much distance he had to the girl, how long are the skid marks (from braking)or are there none? before he "laid it down". Did he in fact lay it down purposely or is he just saying that cuz he crashed and is a motorcycle cop-trying to play hero....How fast was he actually traveling, was he drinking, his personal bike or police cruiser, etc...--of course the police will hide all these "facts" and always try to make their own look like heros....and the paper wouldn't dare speak out against them apparently

You are correct, laying it down takes away all your control of the situation...stupid thing to do...

[Ray916MN]

A tragic sequence of errors.

- Kid in the road
- Cop riding error
- angry father losing control

No winners here, only tragedy...

Unfortunately the acceptance of "laying it down" as an appropriate response by motorcyclists to unforeseen situations is a demonstration of how what many believe is "common sense" can really be utter nonsense. Having it characterized as anything but a loss of rider control over a motorcycle helps perpetuate the nonsense. Makes the death even more tragic, because society learns or reinforces the wrong thing, rather than at least learning something constructive from the tragedy.

[Neub]

I agree the PR is about damage control.  There is nothing in the article that indicates he was a motorcycle officer so who knows about his skill level on a bike...he is just someone riding a motorcycle who happened to be a officer