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Trevor Schroeder's incident
with the MIT Police

A message from Schroeder describes the incident

Date: Tue, 19 Apr 2005 10:03:20 -0400
From: Trevor Schroeder <tschroeder *at* mos.org>
To: cburke *at* cambridgepolice.org [Schroeder first thought that the officer who accosted him was a Cambridge police officer --JSA]
Subject: An unfortunate incident with Officer D'Amelio

April 19, 2005

Hello, I'm writing to you this morning to report an unpleasant and harrassing interaction with one of your officers.

I was cycling to an appointment in Cambridge at approximately 8:30 this morning on Vassar St. Northeast-bound from Mass. Ave. Officer D'Amelio, badge 158, was enforcing the pedestrian right-of-way in the the crosswalk for which I sincerely applaud the City and the police department.

However, as I passed I heard Mr. D'Amelio shout something at me. Not understanding it the first time, I returned to ask him what he had said. He shouted at me that I should get in the "bike lane on the sidewalk" in a tone of voice that made it very clear that it was not a request. I informed him that I would not and when he demanded to know why I explained to him that MGL Ch. 85 Sec 11B protects my right to bike in any part of the public way, a fact with which he didn't seem particularly concerned.

On my way back from the meeting, I stopped to talk to Officer D'Amelio to get his name and badge number and inform him of my intent to file a complaint. At this time Mr. D'Amelio claimed that his only concern was my safety. I pointed out to him that the bicycle facility he was recommending is widely recognized as being the most dangerous type in use. This danger stems from a number of fundamental flaws in the design of the Vassar street bikeway and numerous studies show that this type of facility is as much as 12 times as dangerous as operating in the street, a fact which the City and MIT were made well aware of when the bikeway was initially proposed. Indeed it is so dangerous that countries which had placed such facilities at the core of their bike strategies have not only dropped them from their plans but actively pursued their physical removal, also a fact which the City and MIT were made aware of at the time of the bikeway's proposal. Finally, the City itself shows some newfound awareness of their danger, refusing to allow MIT to construct a similar facility along Mass. Ave. near 77 Mass Ave., as reported in The Tech on February 25.

If Officer D'Amelio is truly concerned about the safety of cyclists--to say nothing of the pedestrians who are carelessly thrown into the mix or the City and Institute's legal liability in the event of an accident stemming from this terrible design--he would be well served to know that not only is his command unlawful but that indeed I was in the safest travel lane given the circumstances. If he is truly concerned about cyclists' safety on Vassar St. his best advice, if any, would be to advise them to stay off of the bikeway and remain in the regular travel lane on the street. At the very least I would expect him to refrain from harrassing law abiding citizens.

Please communicate this to Officer D'Amelio and anyone who might be performing traffic duty on Vassar St. in the future. I look forward to your timely response.

Sincerely,

Trevor Schroeder
4 Buckley Ave. #1
Boston, MA 02130

Schroeder redirected his complaint to the MIT Police

To: massbike <massbike *at* topica.com>
From: Trevor Schroeder <tschroed *at* zweknu.org>
Subject: Re: [massbike] [tschroeder *at*mos.org: An unfortunate incident with Officer D'Amelio
Date: Tue, 19 Apr 2005 12:27:11 -0400

Argh. Mea Culpa. So it occurs to me that Officer D'Amelio might in fact be an MIT cop. Sure enough, there he is in the directory. I have sent an apology to Lt. Burke of the CPD and instead directed my letter to the MIT PD. Just to set the record straight.

Schroeder followed up with the MIT Police:

To: massbike <massbike *at* topica.com>
From: Trevor Schroeder <tschroed *at* zweknu.org>
Subject: Re: [massbike] [tschroeder *at* mos.org: An unfortunate incident with Officer D'Ameli
Date: Thu, 28 Apr 2005 18:00:46 -0400

April 19, 2005

As a follow-up to my MIT Police incident, I just got out of a meeting with Sergeant Tom Komola of the MIT Police. He took my statement and understood the issues involved. Sgt. Komola has a lengthy history with the Wellesley town PD as well as the State Police. He taught traffic and motor vehicle law at the academy and seemed well versed in the applicable statutes. He also understands that many of the officers on the MIT PD have served their entire careers there and don't necessarily have the breadth of experience officers gain on a larger force. He recognizes that it's important to recruit that experience externally for higher ranking officers and that the policy comes directly from Chief DiFava, a former State Police officer.

We chatted about the Vassar St. cycle track as well as Cambridge bike facilities as a whole. Sgt. Komola expressed concern about the city's liability in the event of an accident given the poor design standards of many of them. I informed him of the recent $2.5m decision following just such an incident [in Illinois]. As an aside, we also talked about the idiocy of MassHighway's 80th percentile speed limit determination.

Most importantly, he promised that he would communicate to the rest of the force that use of special cycling facilities is optional, that they have no business even being involved in traffic law enforcement, and that that should be left entirely to the Camrbridge PD.

I appreciate Sgt. Komola's friendly and professional attitude, I believe that he is an asset to the MIT PD.

PS: He also mentioned that just this afternoon an MIT grad student was hit at Comm & Mass Aves and taken unconscious to the hospital where they later regained conciousness and came up clean on the CAT scan. Anyone know anything more?

[I'll also be sending a version of this note to the MIT Police to thank them for his work.]


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