Look, there have been plenty of times where I've absolutely been so laser-focused on whatever was ahead, I likely could've missed an asteroid hitting Earth. When my music is up, the breeze is perfectly cool, and I'm just vibing with the bike. It probably isn't the safest thing to do, but we're all human and it happens from time to time.
Yet, that doesn't give anyone the right to just threaten to kill me for not moving over fast enough. Let alone that person being a cop.
But such is the case of this video out of California where a police officer is caught on video threatening to run a motorcyclist over if they don't move out of their way. Yeah, that's not exactly what I'd call "protecting and serving."
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The video seems to be from someone's Insta360 action camera and shows a California Highway Patrol officer in the HOV lane of the highway with his lights and sirens on. Now, it is your job as a motorcyclist to be aware of what's going on around you, but the cop doesn't even let the motorcyclist have a chance to react before he's shouting into his megaphone at them and threatening to kill them.
Right from the jump as the cop gets to the motorcyclist in the lane, he yells, "Get the fuck out of my way or I will run you over." But as the motorcyclist moves to do just that, he goes further, yelling, "I'll fucking run you over!" That's absolutely not OK.
And yes, again, it's your job to be aware of your surroundings. It's also especially important to watch out for first responders like police, fire, and emergency services like ambulances. But the cop didn't give them any time to react. He just went from 0 to 1,000 and threatened the motorcyclist's life while, ostensibly, heading somewhere else to "protect and serve."
I don't care what you're heading to do, if you threaten someone's life as a police officer in the course of your day or on your way to somewhere else, that's not being a good cop. That's criminal and the cop should be put on desk duty, since they clearly don't have the capability of acting appropriately.
I do agree with many of the post's commenters that the rider should've had better situational awareness. But come on, this cop shouldn't threaten people.
