[Update: False] SFPD Cites Bike Rider for Driving With a Suspended License

Update 9/21: SFPD said on its Richmond Station Facebook page that the person cited was driving, contradicting the report printed in the Richmond Review which described a “bicycle rider”: “The story is not correct. On the time and date indicated the only misdemeanor citation issued for that night was to the driver of an automobile.”

A San Francisco police officer cited a bicycle rider for having a suspended or revoked automobile driver’s license. You read that right — even though no driver’s license is required to ride a bicycle in California (or anywhere?), it happened.

From the SFPD Richmond Station police blotter, via the Richmond Review:

Driving with a Suspended License: Aug. 8, 2:42 a.m., Geary Boulevard
An officer on patrol noticed a bicycle rider making an unsafe lane change while riding eastbound on Geary Boulevard. The officer enacted a traffic stop and discovered the rider had a suspended/revoked driver’s license.

The bicycle driver was cited for a misdemeanor offense of driving with a suspended license.

The officer’s baffling application of the law is especially strange considering the fact that this person could have been riding a bicycle because they lost their driver’s license.

Well, if that’s the new order of things, police ought to start ticketing all children who ride bicycles on sight.

(H/T to Reddit user dxtr3265)