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RR: March 2002 #13
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My name is Colin Keith Thomsen, I am twenty years old and I live in the Whittier neighborhood. I am a student of the University of Minnesota. I attended and was arrested at the Critical Mass bike ride on Friday, March 29.

The ride left Loring Park at approximately 5:30 and we soon discovered that the police were waiting for us. After a couple twists and turns, we were herded back into Loring Park by police who drove into the park in squad cars. We left the park on a different path, closer to MCTC. Again, the police cut us off, so most of us rode through a parking lot and an alley to get onto another street. Occupying a single lane, we rode north to Tenth Street, then headed east to Third Avenue South. We turned north on Third and decided shortly thereafter to ride two abreast, which is legal in Minnesota (MN Stautes 169.222 Subd. 4). I believe we ran at least one red light on Third, but only to keep the group together.

As we neared Sixth Street, several squad cars pulled up from behind us, lights flashing. They stopped short in front of the group, and approximately eight to ten officers got out and came at us, shouting. Most of the riders, including myself, got off the street at that point and immediately dismounted our bikes. I stood beside my bike on the sidewalk and watched as MPD officers chased and tackled other riders, throwing the bikes of those they could catch on the ground. An officer approached me from behind and threw my bike on the ground without checking to see if my registration was current. In fact, I witnessed not a single officer actually checking bikes for proper registration, even though this now appears to be the MPDs pretense for seizing so many bicycles.

I remained on the sidewalk to watch what happened next. I watched as one biker was tackled to the ground, wounding his head. After he was put in handcuffs and allowed to stand up, I could see the blood running down the side of his face. He shouted 6-9-9-5! 6-9-9-5 the arresting officers badge number, which I immediately wrote on my hand. I witnessed another rider, whose initials I believe to be AG, be arrested in the street. The arresting officers had her in handcuffs and were apparently trying to get her to a squad car. She was clearly upset and having trouble walking. She shouted Im not resisting arrest several times. As far as I saw, she was not read her Miranda rights. Apparently not finding her sufficiently compliant, one officer grabbed her by the hair, pulled her head back and sprayed pepper spray directly into her eyes from a distance of not more than three inches. The young woman screamed in pain. At this point, I found it impossible to remain silent about what I was watching. I shouted, as many others were and had been since the arrests started, things like Police brutality and completely unnecessary! You're hurting her!

Officer Villamor (ID # 7415) came towards me and said Get out of here, or I'm going to arrest you too. I responded Fine. I'm leaving. I'm leaving. I turned away from him, trying to make it as clear as possible that I was complying with his order. He sprayed me in the eyes and mouth with pepper spray from a distance of not more that four or five inches. The pain and shock of being sprayed dropped me to the ground, where I was arrested. I was then placed in a squad car with AG. I was not read my Miranda rights. The time was approximately 5:45.

I was soon taken to the Hennepin County Jail, where I would spend the next ten and a half hours. I was charged with obstructing legal process and in terfering with traffic as a pedestrian. I was released at 4:15 AM, and walked the two miles back to my apartment.