Video: Over Three Dozen Cyclists Held Over One Shoplifted Beer

14 squad cars and 37 people searched for $5 of allegedly shoplifted beer from LAPD illegallysearches on Vimeo.

One of last Friday’s group bicycle rides stopped at the CVS at at 14735 Ventura Blvd for a pit stop.  Hours later, what was left of the group rolled out after a harrowing experience with the LAPD.

The manager of the CVS believed that one of the cyclists shoplifted some beer and dialed 911.  Because the manager could provide no description of the alleged beer thief, 14 LAPD squad cars were summoned and 37 cyclists were detained and searched until the cops found one person who had a beer without a receipt.  LAist calls some of the text on the video is “slightly over the top,” but it still provides more ammunition for those that argue that cyclists are treated as second class citizens.

After all, if the only description the manager could provide was that the alleged thief was occured by a person of certain race, would the LAPD have just detained everyone in the area that met that description?