UPDATE : The father of these riders recieved this email from MHP:
A video shows a Mississippi state trooper’s startling response to a pair of motorcyclists failing to yield to their lights and sirens.
Jessica Lee Osbon posted the video to the Facebook group Moto Riders of MS. She says the riders in the video are her sons.
It happened in Wiggins Mississippi. In the video you can hear the trooper’s sirens. But apparently the riders could not. The rider recording the video also has no mirrors so likely didn’t see the trooper coming up behind him.
We’ve asked for a comment from the Mississippi Highway Patrol but they have not responded. It appears as if the trooper is on an emergency call, not attempting to pull the riders over.
The video shows the right hand lane clear and open. The pair of riders is in the left lane.
The trooper’s car pulls into the video then makes an aggressive move towards one of the riders, driving him off of the road right onto the shoulder . The cruiser barely misses hitting the rider. Then he speeds ahead tailgating the other rider before finally moving on.
Now for the opinion part of this. Yes, these riders are doing several things wrong . It’s illegal to ride without mirrors, it’s also illegal in most states to occupy the passing lane without passing other vehicles . And of course the biggest issue is not yielding to the officer.
But all of those are grounds for traffic tickets, not worthy of a death sentence. It’s a bit of a wonder that what this trooper did didn’t leave the rider seriously injured or even killed . It’s abhorrent. And there is no way this fits within department policies.
Osbon wrote on her Facebook post “Trooper K-28 I would like to know why the hell you thought it was a good idea to run my son off the road and almost rear-end my other son.” I agree, and would add that if the trooper displays this kind of road rage against a biker you can imagine they do not have the temperament it takes to protect and serve. As Osbon wrote, “there is absolutely no sense in this.”
Again we’ve reached out to the public information officer for the Mississippi Highway Patrol and provided them the video to review. Although we have not heard back from him on this topic he has sent us other press releases in the past 24 hours . If we get a response we will update.