Tuesday, December 6, 2011
City/County News Helmet Ordinance Passed By City Council
Posted by Bianca Phillips on Tue, Dec 6, 2011 at 7:21 PM
The Memphis City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday to approve an ordinance requiring the use of helmets during skateboarding, biking, or inline skating at the city skate park.
Violators will face a $50 fine, but the court system will have the option of throwing out the first charge as a warning.
The skate park on Avery opened in November before any city law was in place requiring helmets, but there have been rules posted since opening day encouraging skaters to don helmets. Twelve-year-old William Faulhaber was charged with criminal trespassing last month when a Memphis police officer singled him out for not wearing a helmet. See our last News Blog post for details and a video.
At the council meeting, councilwoman Wanda Halbert asked city attorney Herman Morris if the city is liable for injuries incurred at the park. Morris said the city is liable, but research has shown that the city's responsibility at the skate park "shouldn't be any more significant than with any other playgrounds."
Comments (8)
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Wow, guys. The sign always said helmets are required not suggested. Y'all are spinning.
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This still does not excuse the hand cuffing and supposed arresting of a kid.
@mad_merc.
Not so many years ago handcuffing the kid and hauling him off to his dad would have been considered good police work. I still think that it is good police work. I personally want children to grow up knowing that they must obey the rules and if they don't, there are consequences.
There is a distinct difference in taking a kid home to his parents and hand cuffing him under the pretense of being under arrest. Like has been stated far more eloquently by many others, there were far better ways to handle this situation.
There's a reason the police are referred to as "LAW enforcement officers" (emphasis mine), and not "rule," "policy," "restriction," or "guideline" enforcement officers.
Now that it's a law, the police are on firmer ground enforcing it, but the rule of reason still applies. Arresting someone for not wearing a helmet is overkill, pure and simple, which may be why the state's bicycle helmet law (for children under 16) prohibits LEO's from doing so. I wonder whether City Council was wise enough to impose a similar restriction on the enforcement of its law.
I think Herman Morris is wrong. True, if we were just talking about skateboarders at a city park. But this is a skate park, and I'm sure it could reasonably be argued in court that the city has a greater responsibility for the safety of the users of that facility than at other parks, just as it has greater responsibility for the safety of swimmers at public pools than it does for swimmers at golf course water hazards.
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