Principled skater takes jail time over fine

by Rob Peters | May 15, 2008 at 03:17 pm | 1073 views | 22 comments

On the one hand, skateboarding is illegal on Fredericton streets, but on the other, government there encourages carless transportation.

A plucky skateboarder found himself caught in the middle of that contradiction and was willing to go to jail for it.

A 25-year-old Fredericton man is behind bars today after surrendering to police.
His crime?

Skateboarding on the streets.

Lee Breen was originally ticketed in the summer of 2007 for skateboarding on the streets of Fredericton. This was after receiving several warnings about Bylaw S-9, which makes it illegal to use a sled, toboggan, wagon or skateboard on the streets of New Brunswick's capital.

"I was skating on King St. in Fredericton (and) was actually going to buy my brother a skateboard helmet," he said yesterday. "(When) I saw the police car, I jumped off my board. The officer who pulled over and approached me had actually given me a warning the day before."

Breen, a local businessman who has no previous criminal record, said he politely told the officer he wasn't going to pay the fine or stop skateboarding.

In April, a judge increased the fine to $100 and gave him the choice of paying it or spending five days in jail.

Breen decided he'd rather be locked up.

"I won't pay because I believe I'm following the Fredericton Green Matters campaign in finding alternative transportation with my skateboard," he said yesterday at a rally in support of him at city hall.

"If I pay the fine, I would be admitting I was doing something wrong."

About 120 people – including two-dozen skateboarders – later accompanied Breen as he turned himself in at the courthouse.

The city's Green Matters campaign includes a section encouraging people to find a "greener" way to commute.

Breen, who uses only zero-emission transportation and runs a lawn care business using only push mowers, hand clippers and organic compost, said skateboards should fall under the category of "human-powered travel."

"I'll be doing a lot push-ups, I guess," he said. "It's my first trip to jail so I'm not sure what to expect."

Justice officials said Breen could be released as early as last night, mainly because the offence is not that serious.

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azzayindia

at 01:50 on May 16th, 2008

good stuff:

Rob Peters, I like this story. It's good stuff.

Heiky

at 12:25 on May 16th, 2008

It's so sad how the govenrment's trying to go green but ending up contradicting themselves with reinforcements.

Chadinho Dos Santos

at 14:33 on May 16th, 2008

Underground Skateboarding / Mexico

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Robert Galloway

at 17:12 on May 16th, 2008

He did nothing wrong. Best of luck Lee

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hadsie

at 17:50 on May 16th, 2008

good stuff:

It's awesome that he's not backing down from this... hopefully it will lead the city to change this bylaw. If he's not endangering himself or others it seems like a total waste of tax payer dollars to be dealing with this.

nickcrowl37

at 18:19 on May 16th, 2008

I think the idea of skateboarding being a crime is ridiculous. Skateboards are no more dangerous to the public or the rider than a bicycle.

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celinet

at 20:04 on May 16th, 2008

this originally was a vertical picture with a skater... you can see a hint of wheel at top left...

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Damien Franco

at 20:20 on May 16th, 2008

I moved back to the town I grew up in, Midland, TX, and saw this sign near one of my old stomping grounds. Sure it's a public park, but it's where we used to skateboard and roller blade and I was just sort of saddened.

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michelleuc

at 21:05 on May 16th, 2008

Love how it was written as if in 2 languages.

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3byOne Media

at 22:00 on May 16th, 2008

No Skateboarding signs take place where ever you are around the country. One night skating the streets I happened to photograph one that seemed to be destructed and rebelious that skaters had taken part of to show there dis-respect for these signs.

3byOne Media has contributed a photo to this story.

joaquim

at 01:09 on May 17th, 2008

Yep I hate those no-skateboarding law, I can't actually believe that someone has been sent to jail for skateboarding...

dr.infidel

at 04:31 on May 17th, 2008

I've this board for 3 weeks, but nobody knows what can happen while skateboarding, you may break it in an hour...

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Generik11

at 16:23 on May 17th, 2008

I was wandering around the Tower District of Fresno on a Saturday morning and came across this little bit of sidewalk art. I thought it was great that the people in the shop these wagons were set up in front of wanted to share their succulents with the passing world, and I really liked the look of the pots in the wagons. This is still one of my favorite pictures. That anyone could object to using these wagons in this manner is just ridiculous.

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merche

at 17:00 on May 17th, 2008

No matter age or weight, they want to skate in the highway.
This road ("La Cota Mil" or "Avenida Boyacá") is closed to cars traffic on sundays to let people practice sports (run, walk, cycling or skate). Caracas, Venezuela.

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flicks77

at 01:30 on May 18th, 2008

Injuries cant stop Jus Marel from participating in the sesh...meet the definition of the word lifer.

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chaf.haddad

at 01:54 on May 18th, 2008

A crowd of about 100 - 120 people gathered in front of Fredericton's City Hall to meet Lee and watch the media storm the 25 year old skater.

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Psylus

at 02:42 on May 18th, 2008

think the sign pretty much speaks for itself... taken from a train station (MRT) in Singapore...

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Psylus

at 02:45 on May 18th, 2008

think getting jailed for skateboarding is a really dumb charge... waste of taxpayer's money too... poor fella...

rfmphotography

at 18:26 on May 18th, 2008

Well I saw this at my high school and I use to have friends that loved to skate at this school... When I saw this I just wanted to take this photo to show how irritating this can be to my friends or me. They even tried to take skateboarding out of my town which is getting way out of hand. I feel bad for that guy that got arrested because he enjoys doing what many others enjoy.

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table4five

at 20:18 on May 18th, 2008

While getting ready to take my daughter for a walk while she rode in her wagon, I noticed the identical wagon parked one driveway away. Then she bent down and started wiping leaves off the tires and I snapped this.

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tyrxiii

at 01:02 on May 19th, 2008

I dont care what the sign says, I'm doing it anyway

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tyler gaw

at 07:12 on May 31st, 2008

This is a skatepark (term used lightly here) in Troy, Missouri. I asked some local skaters what the deal was, they said the city was doing "repairs". The ramps are concrete, and are so bad the only repair I would see necessary is a bulldozer.

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