Arrested for Playing Polo

polo-wanted.jpg

Wow. Seriously? You’ve gotta have something better to be doing with your time MKE Sheriffs department.I got a ton of emails today from angered Polo players everywhere expressing their concern for what happened to some guys in Milwaukee yesterday during a pick-up game. No, they weren’t charged with “fancy riding” either.

Read all about it over at MKEBikePolo and Milwaukee World.

Previously:
No Fancy Riding in Bmore
Keep Your Hands on the Bars

8 Comments »
by prolly |
Uncategorized


  • http://www.mkebikepolo.com/wordpress/ Sean

    As one of the arrested players I just want to say that any legal advice or humorous stories pertaining to biking and police run-ins would be greatly appreciated!

  • chris

    I think you should correct the article, it was the Milwaukee Sheriffs Department(County), not the Milwaukee Police Department (City).

  • http://fastpacezine.blogpot.com andy compton

    holy shit! we got hassled tonight for playing polo too! wtf is going on!!

  • Tasan

    Were there any signs stating no trespassing posted anywhere?

    If there’s not, I think the property owner would have to ask you to leave before the cops can just come give tickets out.

    At the store I work at, cops always have to have a manager come make a no trespass complaint about someone, the cops aren’t allowed to just run them off on their own accord.

    Good luck, fellas.

  • http://moneyfire.tumblr.com Moneyfire

    Sean,
    Sorry to hear about the ordeal and sadly no humorous stories. I am a law student and so I can perhaps bring some light to the legal aspects of the encounter. Briefly, this would seem to be an instance of shitty police activity but one that lacks a great deal of recourse. Unfortunately the success of any sort of claim regarding the search and seizure will most certainly hinge on the nature of the trespass and local statutes governing arrests subsequent to the issuance of a trespass citation. If it was within their discretionary power to take you all to the station for processing, the subsequent searches of your belongings would almost certainly be acceptable as necessary precautions to prevent contraband from entering jail cells and to protect police from missing property claims. Additionally the period of detainment was reasonable. Lastly, I’ve seen in other forums people making mention of potential Miranda violations (“did they read you your rights?”) and while this might be relevant had you been charged with additional crimes, it has no bearing on the trespassing tickets. Moreover, even if you were to have a valid claim the likely expense/time it would take to litigate such a claim would make the whole undertaking too costly.
    However I would lodge a formal complaint with the department, it won’t do much for you now but it gets something on record thereby allowing for polo players and/or cyclists to establishment a pattern of targeting by police if this continues and it lets the cops know that they are messing with a vocal, organized community. Increasing the paperwork and headache might prove to be the most effective way to deter these sorts of tactics in the future. Sorry again man, bummer of a night.

  • http://mkebikepolo.com joeMKE

    not only did they tell us we were not under arrest… they said we WERE NOT UNDER ARREST… it wasn’t untill we were all cuffed and in the back of the paddy wagon that i said “if we’re not arrested, then what is all of this for?’” we were told later that we were in fact under arrest

  • Chris

    @ Tasan, this has been brewing for a while.
    http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/lifestyle/81164657.html

    “According to Newborn, bike polo players have used the O’Donnell Park garage as a winter venue for five or six years, with a few warnings from county parks workers but no official enforcement action.”

    “Sheriff’s Capt. Aisha Barkow confirmed the enforcement action and said the players had been warned twice previously that they were trespassing and causing damage to the parking structure near the Milwaukee lakefront. County parks representatives offered two alternate locations for their bike polo matches, she said.”

  • http://www.mkebikepolo.com Capt. Jake Newborn

    the alternate locations offered by the parks dept were highly unsuitable for bike polo(or much of anything for that matter). We are meeting with them on Monday morning to determine how we can work together on creating a sanctioned county court.


INSTAGRAM

 

CATEGORIES

ARCHIVES

ADVERTISING ON PiNP

Interested in having your company's ad on Prolly is not Probably? Email me. Sidebar ads are available in 140 x 140 and 300 x 250, in bi-monthly or six month intervals.

Or, if you'd like to donate, do so here with Paypal. Just click the donate button below and every cent donated will go towards the maintenance and growth of the site.

ABOUT PiNP

John Watson

Prolly is not Probably started in 2006 in Brooklyn, New York. For over 6 years it has thrived as John Watson, the sole author, documents multiple facets of cycling. With the boom of urban cycling, Prolly is Not Probably has grown to be the number one blog for the culture surrounding it. In recent years, a large push for original content has spawned a steady flow of photosets, profiles and portraits.

Known for his A Day in 10 Photos, Merckx Mondays, Recent Roll, Shop Visits, and Beautiful Bicycles features, John continues to document bicycles of all kinds and his daily life through photos. Over the years, Prolly is Not Probably has been cited in the New York Times, COG Magazine, Urban Velo and other notable publications. In March of 2011, John moved to Austin, Texas where he continues to cover a cross section of cultural influences.

CONNECTIONS

407 Fixed Gear / Affinity Cycles / All City Cycles / All Hail the Black Market / Archive Bags / BalHogs / Ben's Cycle Blog / Bic Control / Bike Blog / Bike Jerks / Bike Snob of NYC / Bike Reviews / Blind Carpenter / (B)logging Miles / Bmore Fixed / Bomb Hills Speed Kills / Bootleg Sessions / Break Brake 17 / Brooklyn By Bike / Brooklyn Machine Works / Cambridge Bicycle / Candy Cranks / Chari & Co / Cog Wei / The Come Up / Crank Arm Steady / Crank Attack / Cycling WMD / Cycling Inquisition / Cycle Zine / Defgrip / Empire Begins / Fast Pace Zine / Feetbelts / Fish & Chips Japan / Fixed Gear Athens / Fixed Gear Bikes.Net / Fixed Gear Extravaganza / Fixed Gear London"s Blog / Fixed Gear Republic / Fixed-Tricks / Fixie Pixie / Fixy Life / Fix Memphis / Freeman Transport / Fremont Fixed / Fyxomatosis / Geekhouse Bikes / Grove Street Bicycles / Hard Court Bike Polo / Hipster Nascar / Hold Fast / I Parked in a Bike Lane / King Kog / Kissena Track Racing / Live From Lost Angeles / Locked Cog / London Cyclist / Loop Magazine / Macaframa / Mash SF / Massan SF / Milwaukee Cycles / Mixt Meat / PBI Collection / Pedal Consumption / Pedallas / Pedal Room / Phoenix / Pista Collective / Pole Riders / Post Bikes / Push it a Stop / Pristine Fixed Gear Shop / Profile Racing / Push it a Stop / Razorapple / Rip Zinger / Saglife / Shop 14 / Skitch Clothing / South Florida Fixed / Take Over LA / The Come Up / Track Star / Trackosaurus Rex / Trafik LA / TTv / Urban Velo / Velomine / W Base / Wrahw / Zlog /