By Haley Harrison
Dispute over traffic stop photograph nearly brings out deputy's Taser
Law enforcement agencies said they're finding themselves at odds with a growing trend in the Kansas City metropolitan area.
The number of motorcycle clubs in the region has doubled in the past year. Members of the Galloping Goose Motorcycle Club, said they're not doing anything wrong and feel like police are profiling their club as gangs.
Attorney Sean Pickett said his client Jack Shelledy was stopped on Interstate 35.
"(It's) because he had a patch on. That's it. There's no reason why. It's completely unacceptable," Pickett said.
The routine stop escalated when a Clay County deputy tried to photograph Shelledy. According to the incident report, when Shelledy refused to have his picture taken the deputy threatened to use a Taser.
During a conversation in the deputy's cruiser, recorded on a dashboard camera, the deputy and a colleague discuss whether they're allowed to take a picture of an unwilling subject.
A motorcyclist who asked to be identified as Blake, a fellow Galloping Goose member, said it's unconstitutional.
"I guess I would say it would fall under profiling," he said.
Shelledy was given citations for following too closely, failure to display a certificate of inspection and failure to maintain a single lane. Then he was put into handcuffs.
"I'm going to write this (expletive) up for failure to comply with a lawful order of a deputy sheriff," the deputy said on the dashboard camera recording.
Shelledy had a federal drug conviction in the late 1990s, but in 2009 he was recognized by the Missouri Senate for his sobriety and charity work.
"The fact of who he was and he was in this area again, which from what I understand wasn't normal, we requested to take his picture," said Lt. Will Akin of the Clay County Sheriff's Office.
Shelledy's arrest was the only one during a September biker festival in Kearney called the Mule Run.
The Mule Run draws in bikers from around the region. The Clay County Sheriff's Office said it was concerned rival clubs were trying to move into town that weekend and might cause chaos.
Over the three days of the event, the department took a zero-tolerance policy. It stopped 31 cars, 14 motorcycles and four trucks, issuing eight citations and 33 warnings. Akin said the increased enforcement kept trouble from rolling into town.
"For them to come back and say that we were picking on them, well, if they felt that way, I can't answer why," Akin said.
He said deputies met with bikers ahead of the Mule Run to express concerns about rival clubs clashing.
The Clay County Sheriff's Office placed about 10 officers on overtime for six hours during the weekend's increased enforcement.
Shelledy is scheduled to appear before a Clay County judge Jan. 8 for a hearing about the traffic tickets.
Read more: http://www.kmbc.com/news/kansas-city/motorcycle-club-says-members-are-being-profiled/-/11664182/23176458/-/bfapro/-/index.html#ixzz2luE9mLcA
