Is not wearing a bike helmet punishable with pepper spray?

  • Breaking
  • 17/02/2009

It is a scenic walk along Rocks Road. It links Nelson city with Tahunanui Beach.

Sean Taylor usually bikes this stretch of road but last week he had a run with the police.

Perhaps more precisely he says the police ran deliberately into him.
 
Sean was biking along the road last Tuesday when a police officer told him to get off his bike because he was not wearing a helmet.

Sean walked his bike until the police officer was out of sight. Then he jumped back on it.

A 1km down the road the officer again asked him to walk, but Sean says he was running late for work.

That is when the officer pulled over beside him and said he was going to place him under arrest.
 
“That’s when he pulled out his pepper spray,” says Sean.

Sean got back on his bike and the police officer gave chase and that is when Sean says he was rammed.

Police say Sean Taylor was asked to pull over four times and he tried to evade police. Police also say exactly what did happen is yet to be fully established.

Sean is facing charges of failing to stop for an officer, resisting arrest and escaping custody.

It is not the sort of result you would expect from riding a bike without a helmet.

Sean Taylor – who is bikeless and a bit sore for the experience - is taking life in the slow lane and now walking to work.
 
Campbell LIVE

source: newshub archive