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Wrong-Way Dad

October 5, 2011 permalink

When Detroit dad Sean Harrington was biking with his two-year-old twins he encountered a crowd of sports fans, and avoided them by going the wrong way down a one way street. That got him criminal charges of parental neglect.

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Wrong-way Detroit biker: Ticket is ludicrous

Downtown Detroit resident and business owner Sean Harrington said he is still shocked that police ticketed him for biking the wrong way on a one-way street while pulling his 3-year-old twins in their bike trailer last month.

Now Harrington, 43, owner of Centaur bar, Town Pump Tavern and Iodent Lofts, is facing a charge of parental neglect over the ride.

"It's absolutely ludicrous," Harrington said Tuesday.

Harrington said he took his boys to play along the RiverWalk on Sept. 2 and was headed home at 5:55 p.m. when they came across Tigers fans wearing their gear on game night.

They were on Park Street, a few hundred feet from home in the Iodent Lofts.

"These guys were blocking the sidewalk ... so I pull out onto the street," Harrington said. "There's no cars, nobody coming against me -- there's just pedestrians walking around. And the cops wave me over and start hassling me."

Harrington's ticket for loitering/impeding pedestrian and/or vehicle traffic is a civil infraction with a $110 fine due by Oct. 17 or he faces a 20% penalty, according to 36th District Court.

He is to be arraigned Nov. 15 by 36th District Judge Vanesa Jones Bradley on the parental neglect charge.

Harrington said he thinks it is part of an ongoing pattern of harassment by the Detroit Police Department.

"I guess the guy must not have a lot on his plate if this is his big case and I'm his public enemy," Harrington said Tuesday.

Wayne County Assistant Prosecutor Maria Miller referred questions Tuesday to the city's Law Department, which did not have any information on the charge that afternoon.

Police did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday.

Source: Detroit Free Press

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