Rowinsky v. Massachusetts State Police

Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Middlesex, SS.
Superior Court
Civil Action No.

Peter Rowinski,

Plaintiff

v.

State Trooper John M. Walsh;

Joseph S. Lalli, Commissioner of Public Safety;

Jane Perlo, Secretary of Public Safety;

Colonel John DiFava, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts;

Defendants

AFFIDAVIT OF JOHN ALLEN

I, John Allen, do depose and state as follows:

  1. My name is John Allen, and I reside at 7 University Park, Waltham, Massachusetts. I am a past president of the Boston Area Bicycle Coalition, now the Massachusetts Bicycle Coalition, an author of numerous articles and books on bicycling and an expert in bicycle safety, bicycle path design and others area relating to bicycling, having been certified as such an expert in various state and federal courts.
  2. I use a bicycle as a principal means of transportation.
  3. At approximately 11:35 PM on July 26, 1983, I was lawfully riding my bicycle on the shoulder of Soldier's Field Road westbound between the Eliot Bridge and Everett Street in Brighton. I was stopped by Metroplitan District Commission police (now State Police) officers and ordered to get off the road. I identified myself, and was told that I would receive a citation in the mail, however I never received a citation.
  4. After this incident, I wrote a letter to William Geary, then Commissioner of the Metroplitan District Commission (MDC), indicating my concern about police misinterpreting the laws and regulations, and that if in fact, bicycles were prohibited from MDC parkways and bridges, it would be impossible to use a bicycle to access many residences, businesses and other destinations or to use the bicycle as a means of transportation in the Boston area.
  5. After that, in January, 1984, I was traveling eastbound on Soldier's Field Road when I was stopped east of the Channel 4 studios. An MDC police car approached me from behind and slowed. I was again ordered to get off the road by an MDC police officer. When I politely refused, indicating that I was within my legal rights, I was issued citations for riding my bicycle in an area not set aside for such use, and for disobeying the order of an officer.
  6. At my trial, Commonwealth vs. Allen, Brighton District Court docket # 27268, on February 8, 1984, I presented a certified copy of the applicable laws and regulations, indicating that the MDC regulation (rule 8), requiring that bicycles be ridden only in areas set aside for such use, applied only to parklands. Bicycles were specifically defined as vehicles in the MDC regulations (CMR 350, definitions page, rule 22) and were therefore permitted on roadways. Soldier's Field Road was posted "for pleasure vehicles only," and as my bicycle weighed considerably less than the weight limit for this category, it could lawfully be operated on this way. The judge dismissed both counts.
  7. After the trial, Lloyd Smith, the MDC prosecutor, indicated to me that he thought I had won on a technicality — that the MDC hadn't presented the right regulations in court. When I pointed out to him that if bicycles were in fact prohibited on MDC parkways and bridges, it would be impossible to use a bicycle for transportation in the Boston area, and asked him to read my copy of paragraph 22, which defined bicycles as vehicles, he refused. He told me that he would order MDC police to continue to ticket bicyclists.
  8. It appears, based upon the experiences of other bicyclists, who have been stopped since my victory at trial, in the Brighton District Court, that the MDC Police (who have now become part of the State Police) and the State Police are continuing to stop bicyclists who are lawfully bicycling on MDC parkways and other state roads, despite the ruling of the Brighton Court that the police have no right to do so.

Signed and sworn under pain and penalty of perjury this day of ---, 2001

John Allen