Cop Blocks Bike Lane to Ticket Cyclists

[Halon]

http://gothamist.com/2010/10/27/cop_...icket_cycl.php

Sometimes the NYPD's inanity is so perfect, so immaculately risible, that you just want to burst into applause and toss a bouquet of roses onto the hood of a squad car. Today is one of those days. According to a tipster, a cop parked in the bike lane on First Avenue near 23rd Street proceeded to write tickets for cyclists who weren't using the bike lane, because they had to ride around him to get by. This is presumably part of the new crackdown on scofflaw cyclists, and hey—sometimes you have to destroy a bike lane in order to save it. (How come there's never a clown cop around when you need one?) Our source says:

This morning I received a ticket on the corner of 14th and 1st for not riding in a bike lane. The lane was being blocked by a cop car and as I pulled around it a cop pulled me over and informed me of my infraction. About 5 or 6 other cyclists got the same treatment. The cop later moved his car so that it wasn't in the bike lane (but was now parked squarely in the turning lane).

Genious!