On Saturday, 08/22/2009, at approximately 11:00AM, I was traveling West on Route 9 in Hadley, Massachusetts, approaching North/South Maple Street. This is a four-lane, divided highway. I was in the outer, westbound lane, in approximately the middle of the lane, excluding the right-turn diverge area. From my extensive cycling experience and training from the League of American Bicyclists (I am a certified cycling instructor), I know that this position was necessary for traveling safely and effectively on this road. As I passed a parking lot on the right, a police officer, later identified as Patrolman Mitchell Kuc, in a patrol car in the parking lot shouted through a loudspeaker, "Get out of the middle of the road!" Note that he did not address me specifically, nor was I, in fact, in the middle of the road, so I assume that he wanted me to get off the road entirely. I could not think of any reasonable response to this, so I continued on my way, proceeding straight across North/South Maple Street. Officer Kuc followed me in the patrol car and activated the siren. I pulled over and stopped.

Officer Kuc claimed that it was illegal to ride a bicycle on a State highway. I brought his attention to a State statute (Massachusetts General Laws: Chapter 85: Section 11B) that contradicted his claim. He asked me if I had ID, which I did not. He asked me for my name and some other information, which I gave. He went back to his car and returned with a statute book and pointed to a requirement to move to the right to facilitate overtaking by other vehicles and accused me of obstructing traffic and causing a hazard. I tried to explain that the statute did not require me to move to the right to an extent that would put me in unreasonable danger or in violation of the rules of the road and that other vehicles had been passing me freely. I had, in fact, been complying with this requirement by traveling in the outer (i.e. right, travel) lane as opposed to the inner (i.e. left, passing) lane. Officer Kuc then threatened to arrest me for disturbing the peace if I continued on my way.

At some point in the conversation, Officer Kuc reported the situation over his radio. At no point in the conversation did he state what he believed to be a proper lane position under the circumstances.

I waited in the Home Depot parking lot and called a friend for advice. Eventually I noticed that the patrol car was gone. I could not think of anything to do except continue on my way. Fortunately I did not encounter him again on that trip.

Note that a police officer is not allowed to arbitrarily detain someone. If he believed that I had been violating a traffic regulation, he could properly have written me a ticket, but he should have allowed me to continue on my way. But since he had threatened to arrest me if I continued on my way, he was clearly detaining me arbitrarily. This was also a problem in the other incident that I recount below.

I did encounter him again in the same place at about 10:30AM on Saturday, 09/12/2009. He pulled me over just past the Home Depot driveway. He was accompanied by another officer in another car and he spoke to me in a harsh, angry tone. He confiscated my bicycle and told me that I could pick it up at the police station. I asked if if I could ride with him to the police station, but he refused, so I walked to the police station. Note that this also is not a legitimate action for a police officer to take. It constitutes an unreasonable seizure, which is forbidden by the Constitution. When he returned my bicycle to me at the police station at about 11:00AM, he admitted that I might have been acting lawfully, but said, "I don't care about the law." He said that regardless of whether my behavior was lawful, he did not like it and he thought it was stupid. He told me that he would arrest me the next time, and that if I rode in the middle of the lane on any road in any town, he would find out about it and punish me. Of course, this last part is absurd.

It was then very clear that, with the constant, looming threat of arrest, I was not safe in Hadley. I am avoiding traveling on Route 9 in Hadley while I await a resolution to this problem, but this is greatly inconvenient and humiliating.