police

Over the years, I have seen many of these notices on utility poles. There are a timely reminder of how important witnesses are. Hopefully, someone who read this post can help.

Photo: zandersaar.

The 2200 bikes, 2 pickups and the house on Queen West which the police had impounded from Igor Kenk are headed to the auction block. Kenk made a deal with the Crown to allow the Crown to keep the proceeds from the sale of the bikes and pickups, with Igor keeping the proceeds from the house after the Crown has taken its legal costs. If Kenk had not made a deal in the government's lawsuit, the Crown could have confiscated all his property under the Civil Remedies Act.

The 50-year-old bike repairman and self-described recycler is in the Toronto (Don) Jail, awaiting trial on almost 80 theft and drug charges. He's also in the midst of an assault trial.

Under the agreement, the province keeps the proceeds from the sale of the bikes, bike parts and his 1998 and 2001 pickup trucks.

But after his building is sold – less deductions for property management and sale costs, and after outstanding hydro, tax and other arrears are paid – the remaining money will be divided thus:

$50,000 for the Crown.

$65,000 for Legal Aid Ontario, to defray the costs of Kenk's criminal defence.

The remainder to be put in trust for Kenk by his lawyer.

A different cop car, but same bike lane

Breaking news: a Toronto police has been caught on a Toronto Sun camera parking in the bike lane on Annette St. We apologize for posting the third bike lane parking related blog post in a row, but this is a good time to highlight this as the bike union calls for the doubling of bike lane tickets (to be more in line with other illegal parking tickets) and as former police services board chairman Alan Heisey urged police to start a ticketing blitz against bike lane blockers.

The officer was parked there for at least 20 minutes before leaving the cafe with a can of pop and a paper lunch bag.

But instead of protecting their own, Toronto Police brass called the officer's parking actions "stupid" and "unacceptable."

Last week, cycling advocates brought the issue of blocking bike lanes for non-emergency reasons to the attention of the Toronto Police Services Board, which asked Chief Bill Blair to examine the issue.

"That's not kosher at all. It's right in our procedures that, outside of exigent circumstances, you do not park illegally, and that includes in bike lanes," said Sgt. Tim Burrows, of the force's traffic services department. He added higher-ups at the force were "incensed" when they heard about the Annette St. incident.

Lawyer, and former Toronto Police Services Board chair, Alan Heisey, is being supported by bike union members in calling for a crackdown on bike lane blockers. Currently the city is putting in bike lanes but enforcement is lax, effectively negating their usefulness.

A former Toronto Police board chairman wants cops to crack down on bike lane blockers.

In a letter to his former board, lawyer Alan Heisey details his run-ins with vehicles illegally parked in Toronto's bike lanes and demands the police services board order its boys in blue and the blue hornets to unleash a ticketing blitz.

"There has been an awful lot of good intentions by the city implementing a system of bicycle lanes, but as we all know the road to hell is paved with good intentions," Heisey told the Sun yesterday. "The bicycle lanes as a practical matter don't exist because they are not usable."

Along with the crackdown, Heisey -- an avid city cyclist for the past 35 years -- wants the board to consider putting cameras on the Bay St. bike-transit lanes to catch violators and increase fines to those who use bike lanes as short-term parking spots.

He also wants the board to ask police and parking enforcement vehicles to avoid stopping in bike lanes unless it's an emergency.

According to this Toronto Police news release, two cyclists collided on the trail near Bayview Ave. and Pottery Road, resulting in the death of an 84 year old man.

Police request assistance with bicycle−on−bicycle collision
Broadcast time: 17:35
Thursday, October 22, 2009

Traffic Services
416−808−1900

On Tuesday, October 20, 2009, at 11:43 p.m., police responded to a call for a bicycle−on−bicycle collision, in the Bayview Avenue/Pottery Road area.

It is reported that:

• an 84–year−old man was riding southbound on a bicycle path, just south of Pottery Road, adjacent to Bayview Avenue,
• the man was descending a hill when his shoulder struck the shoulder of a 61−year−old man riding his bike,
• the 84−year−old man, who was wearing a helmet, fell to the ground and struck his head,

He was taken to hospital with life−threatening injuries and later died.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416−808−1900, Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416−222−TIPS (8477), online at www.222tips.com, or text TOR and your message to CRIMES (274637).

Constable Isabelle Cotton, Public Information, for Constable Hugh Smith, Traffic Services

CTV reports on a fight between a bike courier and a BMW driver.

Driver pleads innocence. No one interviews the courier. Driver has a name: Azid Hamid. The courier has none.

Azid Hamid was driving his silver BMW on Queen near Church Street when a bicycle courier began yelling at him through his open window.

"He called me name and boom! Hit me without no reason," Hamid alleged.

But maybe it's not that simple; it rarely is.

Detectives told CTV Toronto that Hamid became stuck behind the courier at Queen Street East and Church Street, which is in the middle of a construction zone.

"The cyclist went out into the middle of the lane, which is the passing lane -- which he has a right to do because he is a vehicle on the roadway," said Const. Mike Wong of the Toronto Police Service.

"And the driver of the vehicle thought he was slowing him down or whatever reason. As a result, there was a dispute. And it just escalated from that point on."

It's nice that the cop understood the right of the cyclist to be in the middle and to suggest that perhaps that the driver was angered that the cyclist was slowing him down. What did the driver do next? Rev his engine? Honk? Bump the back wheel of the cyclist? All of these can be quite intimidating and aggressive.

Hamid said the bicyclist came up beside him and hit him in the face repeatedly. "So I hit him back."

The motorist kept driving for several blocks before parking his car and getting out through the passenger's side. That's when he started hitting the cyclist back. The bike courier fell to the ground, witnesses said.

Paramedics treated the cyclist for minor injuries.

Police were called but neither man wanted to press charges.

Funny that the cyclist needed to be treated for injuries but not the driver. Funny that even the driver didn't want to press charges. Maybe he didn't feel so innocent.

Annette St.: All plugged up
A few days ago, the Toronto Star's fixer got excited about getting the Annette St. "No Stopping" signs added next to the new bike lanes. Cyclists everywhere rejoiced, and all was good.

However, upon further inspection, not all of Annette Street's signs have been updated, so in many sections motorists still feel they have the right to park in the bike lanes. And although other sections of Annette St. have the proper signage installed, motorists continue to park wherever they darn well feel like it.

Ah, but we have parking enforcement officers! They will help!

To be honest, I lost my faith in the police and parking enforcement when it comes to enforcing bike lane parking violations a long time ago. I have seen PEOs and police officers cruise right past bike lane parkers without blinking. I have even spoken directly to officers and pointed out illegal bike lane parkers, but they usually come up with excuses for the motorist.

So, as a final nail in the coffin, I present you with these photos of a City of Toronto Parking Enforcement vehicle parked in....you guessed it....the bike lane. The officer was not in the vehicle, nor anywhere that I could see on the street. It looks like the officer was probably popping in to one of the local businesses for a quick breakfast or coffee, while blocking a lane of traffic.

(Photo: ericparker)

Igor Kenk, major Toronto bike thief and drug dealer, will be the subject of a graphic novel and a documentary by Richard Poplak:

Kenk, owner of the shop Bicycle Clinic, was arrested and charged in July 2008 with theft, attempted theft, possession of stolen property and possession of burglar tools. Later, police displayed nearly 3,000 bikes that were found across the city, hidden in garages, warehouses and homes.

I think they missed out how he was charged with a number of drug charges. Those are the ones that probably made him some money and allowed him to just sit on thousands of bikes, waiting for the apocalypse to arrive.

"If you were a customer you learned pretty quickly that this was a hard capitalist, with some hard socialist, what's mine is yours, what's yours is yours type mentality," Poplak said.

Kenk was born in Yugoslavia, which is now know as Slovenia. Once a police officer, he moved to Toronto in February 1988.

He set up his bicycle shop in 1992 and moved three years later to 927 Queen St. West location where it remained until his arrest.

Customers - and victims - also learned that he was mostly out of his mind, cramming his tiny shop with bikes. One guy told me he had to climb over bikes piled up like they were stairs to get from one end of the shop to the other. I believe one of the more interesting features of Igor, was not just that he was a "capitalist" and a criminal, but that he was also a compulsive hoarder. How else to explain that he accumulated so many bikes with no apparent plan for their disposal or sale other than to wait for an apocalypse presumably far off in the future?