Sleeping bag guy

[TwoWheelsDC]

So uh, is anyone kinda creeped out by the guy sleeping in the Rt 1/GW pkwy/Metro underpass on 4MRT? He’s been there on and off, so I know he’s not dead, but tonight he was laying across half the trail and it seemed kinda dangerous for him and cyclists rolling through. Also, I’m always afraid he’s going to jump out and lunge at me like a horror movie or something. Honestly, I think he’s probably harmless, but given that it’s in a relatively secluded and low traffic area, and the fact that people (women especially) have been attacked on the trails, it is a bit concerning. Anyone know who has jurisdiction over this part of the trail? If anything, I’d just like to make sure he’s okay…I’d feel really bad if I rode by him and it turned out he needed to go to the hospital or something and I just ignored him.

Topic

[dasgeh]

There was some serious machinery (and pretty dumb workers) on the trail at 9:30am this morning. It was a real bummer.

[Terpfan]

I should add sleeping bag man has returned to the top of the bridge at the south side of National. However, NPS also put up these little yellow flags around the area he sleeps. I couldn’t really read them, but it doesn’t seem to have changed his idea to sleep there.

[rcannon100]

And this is the damage VDOT did. They managed to smash up some cherry trees in the process.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]2849[/ATTACH]

The former resident was still around.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]2850[/ATTACH]

[dasgeh]

At least NPS has its priorities in the right place. Ugh

[mstone]

Maybe if we put homeless shelters on spots where we want trails, NPS will clear them.

[KLizotte]

@rcannon100 51892 wrote:

And this is the damage VDOT did. They managed to smash up some cherry trees in the process.

The former resident was still around.[/Quote]

This is so sad plus we have frost warnings tonight so I hope he is ok.

I thought from previous discussions on this forum that it had been determined that this piece of property was actually private land; if so, I would presume that the action was taken by the landowner.

Regardless, it seems wrong in this case. He really wasn’t hurting anyone and kept his place neat/tidy. I enjoyed watching the fence expand.

[JorgeGortex]

http://www.arlnow.com/2013/05/15/one-mans-homeless-camp-takes-vdot-five-hours-ten-trucks-to-remove/

[Honeybadger6]

Just for the record, SBG and screwed-by-vdot guy are two different dudes. I’ve ridden past both of them and, while both are quite friendly, at least SBVG is kind enough to stay out of the path of cyclists/walkers/runners/etc… making me a bit more compassionate. That and I kinda wanted to live in his fort, just to see what it was like!

[KLizotte]

Once I saw him up close a few times, and confirmed that he was harmless, I always felt better about taking the MUP through there late at night. I felt like he was keeping an eye on the area (along with the resident bunnies). I also saw him picking up trash along that stretch down to TR Island.

VDOT’s money that was spent tearing down his house would have been better spent fixing the intersection of doom. Now that’s a real menace to society.

[krazygl00]

@KLizotte 52174 wrote:

Once I saw him up close a few times, and confirmed that he was harmless, I always felt better about taking the MUP through there late at night.

Ok I have to bust your chops a little bit on this one. You visually confirmed he was harmless? Was he friendly looking like this?

[KLizotte]

@krazygl00 52198 wrote:

Ok I have to bust your chops a little bit on this one. You visually confirmed he was harmless? Was he friendly looking like this?[QUOTE]

OK, fair enough. I only meant that he wasn’t hurling insults at passerbys or throwing anything at them. He seemed to live and let live. I hope he has found a better plot of land to call home.

[consularrider]

“originally posted by cyclingfool
May I suggest that people contact ASPAN instead of the police unless the guy is threatening your safety or that of others. I saw the ArlPD giving that homeless guy a really hard time last spring one evening on my way home from work. In hindsight, I feel guilty because I didn’t stop to witness to what was going on and make sure they didn’t take do anything too rough to him. While I don’t like the way he slept near/on the trail (out of concern for him being struck by a cyclist), the police handling of the situation seemed a bit aggressive for my liking, and there was another officer heading to the scene as I pedaled towards the Rte. 1 underpass.

Just sayin’.”

Just bumping this thread so that the discussion on the 4MRT issue can move.

I think one of the issues the police may have with this individual is that they kept moving him, but he would come back and continue to sleep in a position dangerous to himself and trail users.

[cyclingfool]

@consularrider 64421 wrote:

Just bumping this thread so that the discussion on the 4MRT issue can move.

I think one of the issues the police may have with this individual is that they kept moving him, but he would come back and continue to sleep in a position dangerous to himself and trail users.

Thanks for moving this over.

I have no doubt that the police have dealt with the guy on MANY occasions. I passed the guy almost daily both morning and evening for weeks on end at one point, it seemed. But last I checked the police still have a responsibility to treat people (especially those involved in non-violent crime) with some respect and show some restraint when it comes to being physically rough. I don’t claim to know all the details of the police’s history with this guy, but their reaction just seemed over the top to me. That’s why I feel guilty now for not stopping and serving as a neutral observer to keep violent police behavior in check potentially. And that’s not to say it got particularly violent; it just felt like it was going in that direction from the ten seconds of interaction I witnessed as I passed, ten seconds which also led me to believe that the homeless guy was not putting up any sort of resistance to the officer.

[jnva]

Sleeping bag guy, homeless guy, dogsled guy, workout/boxing guy, even ELITE guy- these people don’t bother me. What bothers me is the guy wearing a lead vest walking up and down the custis every morning. This guy really freaks me out!

[Author]

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