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Cops shoot, kick and now pepper spray riders

Pepper Spray

Video has now surfaced of a Texas police officer using pepper spray on motorcycle riders as they passed him on the weekend.

This follows recent American police violence towards riders including a Minnesota police office accidentally shooting a rider he had pulled over and an Oregon officer ramming a rider and then kicking him in the chest.

The Minnesota officer was place don administrative leave and the Oregon officer was sued for $181,170 in damages.

Watch the accidental shooting video below.

 

In the next video, an American rider is rammed by an unmarked police car after a five-minute pursuit and then kicked in the chest to get on the ground, even though he was starting to crouch down.

In the latest incident, the officer has been removed from his patrol duties and officials are investigating a video.

It follows reports to 911 on Sunday afternoon that up to 30 riders were racing, stopping, filming themselves and weaving among vehicles on Highway 287.

It was also reported that a car had stopped to block traffic so the riders could pass and that people were standing in the back of a pickup truck, photographing the group.

Officer W. Figueroa apparently pulled over the pick-up truck and when riders did not give him enough room as is required by Texas law, he appears to pull out a canister and spray as riders passed close by.

There have been no reports of riders being affected or the incident causing any crashes.

So far there has been no formal complaint of his actions and he is now on “administrative leave”.

While these videos are distressing, they are a lesson that riders should be concerned about the aggressive nature of some American police and vulnerability of a rider. Check out this website for a list of police shootings.

(Also see this US police chase video.)


COMMENT: No one would defend the actions of the riders who were riding dangerously and endangering the lives of other road users and themselves.

However, riders do not deserve to be rammed, kicked, shot and pepper-sprayed.

The actions of the police in drawing a weapon are no less dangerous to other road users.

Police high-speed pursuits and drawn-gun approaches should be banned as they are in many countries.