Scottsdale cop tells 68 year old speed skater she is a pedestrian!

Wednesday, November 24, the day before Thanksgiving, between 3 and 4 PM, a 68 year old woman, me, with all the safety gear is skating on a little used street, Legacy Blvd, (between Scottsdale Rd. and Hayden), first street North of the 101.
I have been practicing my skating on this little used section of road for more than a year!
Typically, there are 5 to 12 cars, either direction, an hour.
Unbelievably, on November 24th, officer Patrick Hinsberg is sitting in his car on Legacy Blvd., (a few cars an hour), waiting for a speeder!!!!! The freeway, (where all the speeders are), is just one block away but Officer Hinsberg is waiting for speeders on a little used piece of roadway that barely anyone is aware of, WAITING FOR A SPEEDING CAR!
INSTEAD (!), he spots a 68 year old woman, (OMG), skating on the road!!
Officer Hinsberg indicates to me to pull over (!) and informs me that I am a PEDESTRIAN! And belong on the sidewalk!
Me: There are no sidewalks!
Officer: You are breaking the law!
Me: I am not a pedestrian, I am a skater!
Officer: You cannot skate in the street!
Me: I am allowed to skate in the bike lane.
Officer: You are a pedestrian and you cannot skate in the street. There are reports of cars doing 80 miles and hour on this street.
Me: This is crazy, you are harassing me, what is your name? I am reporting this as harassment, there is no traffic on this street! I believe I am allowed to skate in the bike lane and will stay in it.
Officer: I do not care who you contact, you are a pedestrian and breaking the law.
Hands me his card and I skate away.

I told him that skaters had lobbied for rights to skate in the bike lane. (I did believe that was a statute but I skated in a 10K Saturday, 12-04 and the other skaters said as popularity declined, the lobbying ended, therefore, I was mistaken).
Never the less, as I understand the statutes, even a “pedestrian” is allowed in the bike lane if there are no sidewalks!
Is this officer going to stop the “runners” that also train on this quiet section of road?
There are no homes, commercial businesses, stop signs, driveways or intersections on this road, so who complained about fast cars? Nobody lives or works here!
My question is, am I at the very least, allowed in the bike lane on this beautiful, mostly deserted section of road?
If not, then you need to stake an officer there to stop the runners that also train on this road because they are in the bike lane and surely are pedestrians.
Is this good use of our taxes to have a cop sitting on a road like this and bothering pedestrians?

In my entire life, I have probably had occasion to interact with an officer maybe a dozen times.
In 2010, this is my second meeting with 3 Scottsdale officers and I must say, they all reflect the same attitude. Are they all under officer Rodbell’s jurisdiction? ( I think that is the proper spelling),.
I was involved in my first accident ever on the freeway early this year and a Phoenix officer’s attitude, friendliness and courtesy to myself and the offending driver were quite different than my two unfortunate occasions with Scottsdale police.
I have heard from others the same thing. One of my customers said the most friendly officers are in Chandler, but agreed , Phoenix officers were also very nice.


As you can see, this is a divided road, with wide bike lanes on each side, 2 lanes in each direction and a landscaped median!
I do hope that the Christmas season will mellow the attitude of Scottsdale officers and maybe they can practice smiling in the mirror and being more considerate of approaching those that are just living and enjoying life.
Merry Christmas,