Staff Reports
A man was taken to jail after being stopped for riding a bike with no bell.
Town of Tonawanda Police stopped Justin G. Thagard in the Sheridan Parkside neighborhood after seeing him riding through the same area multiple times, according to a police report. Thagard was questioned about his bike riding route and then officers asked for consent to search him. Thagard refused, telling officers, “You don’t have probable cause to search me.”
Thagard gave police a false name and couldn’t produce identification, so the officers told him that they would be taking him in for riding his bike without a bell or other type of warning device. At that point Thagard ran, eventually entering a house on Burns Street. Officers gave chase, one with his weapon drawn and the other with a Taser.
As Thagard ran out the home’s back door, the officer with his Taser out shot it at Thagard. When Thagard slowed down to brush the Taser probes off his clothing, the officer closed the gap between them and took the man to the ground. After being shocked three times, Thagard was taken into custody.
The homeowner declined to press trespassing charges against Thagard, so the man was charged with resisting arrest, criminal impersonation and traffic violation for riding his bike without a bell. Town police didn’t return a call requesting comment on whether it is standard procedure to stop people riding bikes without bells.
Thagard was also found to have an active warrant out of Amherst and was strip searched due to previous drug charges. No drugs were found in the search. Thagard is being held in lieu of $1,000 bail.
