Like most everything else about the Michael Bryant case, Darcy Allan Sheppard's level of intoxication (or lack thereof) when police encountered him earlier that evening remains very unclear. But the allegation that the officers sent him off on his bike knowing that he was in rough shape - true or not - drags yet another social issue into this saga.
Whatever happened here, there's no question that attitudes toward drunk cycling are wildly different from those toward drunk driving, at least in urban areas. If you bring your car out for an evening at a bar or a friend's home, you're expected to keep alcohol consumption to a minumum. But there's no similar taboo around cycling. Unless they're practically falling-down drunk, you'll often see tipsy people wandering out of bars and hopping on their bikes with nary an eyebrow being raised.
Obviously, the dangers of operating a motor vehicle are considerably higher; you're likelier to hurt yourself than anyone else if you're on a bicycle. But there's still the possibility of striking a pedestrian or another cyclist, or forcing a car to swerve dangerously out of the way, or - as may have been the case this week - winding up in a dangerous confrontation.
The very notion that police would have sent Sheppard on his merry way in a car after he'd been drinking is unthinkable. Maybe it should be no less unthinkable that he'd have been sent off on a bike.
Adam Radwanski