(UPDATE, SATURDAY 26JULY: Reed Bates' bail has been reduced from $5000 to $300.)
(UPDATE, SUNDAY MORNING: Bates was released at 4:15PM yesterday. Trial date on July 29 in Waxahachie. Possibly on all pending charges.)
The story of Reed Bates and his struggles with the legal system in Ennis, Texas, has taken on a Kafkaesque quality. Several times in the last year, Bates was arrested and jailed for the 'crime' of riding his bicycle on the road. Police tried to cite him for not riding in the bike lane, but discovered the town doesn't have any legal bike lanes, so they charged him with failure to ride in the right hand lane.
In the midst of all this, Bates was laid off from his job. With some assistance from other cyclists, he moved to Dallas and found work in a green energy company. He also obtained the services of an attorney to help fight the charges in Ennis. When his company applied for solicitor permits in Rockwall, Texas, local police told Bates there was a warrant for his arrest for failure to appear at an Ellis County court date. Neither Bates nor his attorney were informed of this appearance. Bates was taken into custody on June 8th.
As of Friday, June 25th, Reed Bates has been in the Ellis County jail for 17 days.
Thinking that perhaps the attorney had dropped the ball on this, Bates' employer helped him get assistance from another attorney. She ran into the same brick wall.
Bates is not a flight risk. In fact, he is eager to have his day in court. Yet the authorities in Ellis County seem hellbent on using the justice system to punish this man for having the temerity to stand up for his rights. Even from a distance, this has the appearance of local government officials trying to impose their will on a lone citizen. The corrupt southern red neck stereotype is used to comic effect in numerous television shows and movies, but in real life it's not at all funny. We pride ourselves on the rule of law, but apparently in the Ellis County judicial system, that law is whatever the authorities say it is.
And where are the Texas Bicycle Coalition and the League of American Bicyclists in all this? Why, they're waiting for the perfect case to come along before they'll get involved. Cue the crickets.
Links:
Chipseal - Reed Bates' personal blog: Bicycle rules for motorists (Scroll down for the most recent comments)
Examiner: Why does the League of American Bicyclists ignore Reed Bates?
Cyclelicious: Chipseal's defense
Comments
Irony: Today was the umpteenth annual Cow Creek Classic Century bicycle rally, with well over 1000 cyclists riding through Ellis County.
The route this year went right by the Ellis County Jail, where hundreds of cyclists illegally rode through uncontrolled intersections by ignoring the operating traffic signals. Reed Bates sits in the jail for obeying the law, while "The Law" overlooks hundreds of cycling scofflaws riding past the jail (to benefit the local Rotary Club).
"they wanted $5000 for a bicycling offense!"
Let's be fair about this.
"Failure to appear" (the offense for which Reed was jailed this time) is not a bicycling offense - that's what they wanted the $5000 for, not a bicycling offense.
It's pretty bad to ask for a jury trial, and then not show up. As far as not being notified, apparently normal and reasonable efforts were made by the court to notify Reed, but Reed did not make normal and reasonable efforts to be able to be notified.
This particular time in jail has nothing to do with bicycling.
You're right, Serge. The $5000 was for failure to appear, not the original bicycling offense. Reed sent a long email about this earlier today, and I've only read it once. It's been a busy evening, so I was planning to do another update tomorrow. That will go here and to Cyclelicious, Twitter, and Facebook.
I just noticed I wrote in my comment below "trial by jury" when I meant "trial by judge".
A "trial by judge" is what Reed requested (without legal representation), obtained, and did not show up for.
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