Charlie Thiel

My family and I moved to Bend in July of 2014. Part of our decision was the improved bike infrastructure compared with Charleston, SC the town we moved from. We live on the west side and, when the weather is amenable, I ride my young daughters to school in the Old Mill area on my cargo bike. I find the cycling lanes to meet the barest level of safety for that ride, but the fact is I am hyper vigilant when I ride on the streets. I have to bear in mind at all times while riding that the smallest mistake by a person driving a car could be fatal to me and my girls. The fact is, to feel safe, the cycling lanes need to be physically separated from the roads.

The stroke of genius would be for those who lay out bike lanes to abandon the concept of cars and bikes traveling the same lines of travel. Bike "lanes", and for that matter, pedestrian pathways, should follow lines of travel that your average twelve year old on a bike would find - cut throughs, shortcuts, and pathways that have nothing to do with roads. Eagle, Colorado recently created "singletrack sidewalks" that are the perfect example of what we need- meandering trails that carry runners and bikes completely separate from roads. Bend is geographically compact enough that, with the right trails, a cycling or running commuter can get where they want to go without feeling at risk.

I understand why The Source is trying so hard to make this a story. They really want it to be a controversial police encounter. But, based on the facts presented, it's not. I would imagine if you were the officers on the scene, you would like as many of your fellow officers helping you as you could get. Based on the article, the only thing clearly seen (on video, no less) is the individual "resisting, thrashing his body, and jumping up and down" and "screaming expletives at the officers". The article does not make any statements regarding the suspect requiring medical treatment, so I assume he needed none. So let me summarize - several officers were required to subdue a combative suspect, no bystanders were injured, no officers were injured, and the suspect was not injured. Yet, the implication is that something improper was done. Source, you're better than this.