You have got to be joking, Amy. There are enough holes in this story to drive 1,000 bicycles through.

Let's see: Attractive woman who gets her photo in the newspaper -- followed, no doubt, by attention from other outlets. Oh look, she just happens to work for a bicycle company that gets free publicity. And, hey, she was savvy enough to contact the media but not smart enough to ask for the police officer's name.

There isn't an ounce of credible evidence behind article.

While Paul Brown is technically correct (the best kind of correct--ten points to anyone geeky enough to get that reference), I have to wonder how Jasmijn could have misconstrued this. Especially considering everyone I met in The Netherlands spoke better English than I do, so language barrier is likely not a viable excuse. Since the officer apparently didn't give his name or any sort of citation, I have to think he wasn't acting in an official capacity when pulling her over. And if the infraction was so minor as to not warrant a ticket or official warning, why the hell was it worth pulling her over? Did he think she had spare pants in her purse and wore the skirt for the cross-breeze?

And if that was the shortest skirt the officer had ever seen on a cyclist in Soho, I'll sit down to a full-size slab of ribs from a flying pig.

Tangentially, I now know how to avoid the appearance of cankles when wearing slouchy ankle boots: be a six-foot-tall Dutch woman.

To play devil's advocate for a bit, elementary, don't you think she'd have chosen a more provocative outfit to falsely claim her skirt was deemed too dangerous by the NYPD? I can think of a dozen easier ways to get publicity in NYC than to fabricate this story wholecloth. And it's not as if she's the only bicycle company owner in the area--she was attending a convention. The place was lousy with people both giving and getting publicity for bicycle companies. I agree there are holes, but they exist on both sides.

Sorry NumberSix, there's not a single verifiable fact about the incident. No name. No badge number. No witnesses quoted. Not one detail that has any veracity. Leggy blond said it, they printed it, (I'd can the editor who let this through) and that's all we know.

And apparently this was an easy way to get publicity. Of ALL the bicycle companies in town for the convention, THIS one got its name in the local paper (and, again, no doubt other media outlets) and got mentioned on Amy's blog at the very least.

The skirt, by the way, is the perfect length to show off her legs but be believable as around town bike wear.

Sorry NumberSix, there's not a single verifiable fact about the incident

Not saying there is. Just saying I can see it playing out a different way just as easily as I can see someone completely making up such a weird story. Like I said, there are easier and more effective ways to get publicity. I'd think she'd have at least mentioned the name of her bicycle company to whomever first wrote down this story. My money's still on casual, unofficial encounter with someone in law enforcement that got misconstrued and/or exaggerated the claimant and/or the reporter.

I would definitely blame the editor for running such an unverifiable story, however. This should never have been on the Daily News' site as an actual story, but did you notice the date of the incident? It's about five weeks before the date of publication. Which leads me to believe the author wrote the article, someone higher up saw there was no way to get the factcheckers in on this one and shelved it, only to decide it was worthy of publication on the website more than a month later when the news was slow.

IF it did happen, who cares? We do have laws on the book for 1) indecent exposure and 2) distracting drivers. If her cooch was showing and people were noticing, good for the cop for calling her on it. That's IF the story is true.

We have a middle-aged man who rides his bike around central Austin in nothing but a white g-string. (No- it's not Leslie.) I wish someone would give him a ticket- but no. He's been doing it for years. I've also seen women riding bikes topless.

Nice legs, though. I haven't ridden my bike since before I got pregnant- so it's been over 2 years- maybe I'll start again.

@ahw lol I just saw man-who-rides-bike-in-thong yesterday! He rode right by our office (first time I've seen him this far north). We all stood at the break room window with our coffee and watch him go by. Oh, Austin.

I have always been amused by the guy, but it makes me nervous when he's riding on a busy street and everyone feels the need to slow down and crane their necks at him.

Insty has a link to a Spectator story this morning about how Mayor Nanny and his nanny squad are turning New York into No Fun Allowedville. Next, they'll pass an ordinance that bans talking in Central Park, and if you're caught passing notes, you'll do a week of detention in the teachers' union rubber room.

Brown is right. This screams "tabloid" and "publicity stunt." Some women love to work the "I got punished for being sexy" angle, because it's a means of getting attention and fishing for compliments.

If it did happen as she reported--and I don't think it did--maybe the skirt was flying up to flash her ass. Even then, why would the cop need ID? "Ma'am, you may not be aware that you're exposing yourself to traffic. Probably not the safest thing in the world."

This feels fake.

Hearing a report that a cop stopped a hot chick just to pester her/hit on her doesn't suprise me at all. I'd be concerned if he tried to give her a breathalyzer test (or a beating) with his pink nightstick, but that's not in her claim.

@sofar: I usually see him on Lamar somewhere between 15th and 35th, or sometimes on Shoal Creek in Allandale, but have seen as far out as 2222 west of 360. And yes, it's very distracting.

*and when I mentioned nice legs, I meant the Dutch lady, not Mr. Thong. I just re-read my earlier post and realized it wasn't very clear.*

I would have pulled her over, and frisked her too. See what she has hiding under that suspicious skirt.

I read the articles and saw the picture and I find it very hard to believe that New York drivers would be distracted enough to cause an accident by the outfit.

There are never any women wearing shorter skirts that worn by Jasmijn on the sidewalks of New York, right?

the best kind of correct--ten points to anyone geeky enough to get that reference

Damn, I had to google it. Missed that episode. Now I have to hand in my geek card.

Definitely appeals to my inner engineer though. Just like Rumsfeld's "unknown unknowns" line did. I never met a (real) engineer who laughed at that one - we all know it to be true from bitter experience.

On topic - not even that cute a skirt. I was expecting some figure-hugging lycra "not much more than a belt" number.

Now THAT is a sexy woman!

Ltw, it's a good one: guest star Nora Dunn, Bender acting like an actual robot, and a reggae song about the joys of bureaucracy.

Living in Europe I see women with short short miniskirts riding bikes all the time. It's always struck me as being a bit unusual, since it involves exposing oneself one second, covering up the next, exposing, covering, etc. But if being unusual or even dumb was against the law, we'd be in trouble. I mean, more trouble than we're already in.