Skip to content
Sponsored

Thanks to our advertising sponsor -

Detroit Father Charged With Child Endangerment for Cycling With Sons

In the United States we have an obesity epidemic that is overwhelming our healthcare system and destabilizing the economy.

In the United States we have an obesity epidemic that is overwhelming our healthcare system and destabilizing the economy.

And how do we respond? Criminalizing bicycling.

In August it was a Tennessee mom. Now, Detroit police are pursing charges against a father whose uneventful weekend outing with his young sons was considered so deviant, it was apparently deemed worthy of state intervention on behalf of the children.

Todd Scott at M-Bike.org has this report:

On September 2nd, Sean Harrington biked to the Detroit RiverWalk with his twin sons in a bike trailer. On the way home, he took the sidewalk north on Park Avenue, which is a one way side street heading south.

When pedestrians and construction scaffolding blocked the sidewalk, he rode on the road for about four car lengths.

That was apparently too much for Detroit Police who issued Harrington a $110 ticket and now may face charges of child endangerment.

Photo of Angie Schmitt
Angie is a Cleveland-based writer with a background in planning and newspaper reporting. She has been writing about cities for Streetsblog for six years.

Read More:

Streetsblog has migrated to a new comment system. New commenters can register directly in the comments section of any article. Returning commenters: your previous comments and display name have been preserved, but you'll need to reclaim your account by clicking "Forgot your password?" on the sign-in form, entering your email, and following the verification link to set a new password — this is required because passwords could not be carried over during the migration. For questions, contact tips@streetsblog.org.

More from Streetsblog San Francisco

Op-Ed: Summer in Berlin Changes Perspective on Cars

Kyle Kayhan
May 20, 2026

New House Infrastructure Bill: Cuts To Transit, Mixed Bag for Active Transportation

May 19, 2026
See all posts