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Published: July 17, 2006 08:32 am    print this story   email this story  

City’s original motorcycle officer puts on the brakes

By Jay Almond, Staff Writer

Sunday, July 16, 2006 — Capt. J.D. Huneycutt looked over his shoulder, revved the rumbling motor of his Harley Davidson Road King, and pulled onto the roadway one final time as one of Albemarle’s original motorcycle officers.

Huneycutt, 39, joined the Albemarle Police Department in March of 1988.

In 1999 he became one of only three officers chosen to police local streets as part of a new motorcycle patrol unit.

As of Thursday his former hog, complete with front and rear radar, lights, siren, police scanner and equipment storage, has taken up residence with Officer Milton Allman, the next generation of motorcycle patrol.

Huneycutt expressed mixed emotions about passing the 700-pound bike along.

He likes the open air and interaction with the public but in the end decided it was for the best.

“It is a very effective enforcement tool,” he said.

“A lot of times people will speed right past you and not even know you were there.

“It’s also good for community relations and community interactions. People are just more likely to talk to you when you are on a bike than in a patrol car.”

Patrolling in one of the force’s high-powered sedans offers Huneycutt increased safety, which he believes is appropriate now that he and his wife have a 6-month-old child at home.

“It’s one of the best jobs I’ve ever had,” he said.

“It’s the most rewarding and the most demanding at the same time, and you never see the same thing twice, but my family has to come first.”

Since first mounting his steely steed Huneycutt has ridden in good and bad weather. The bad weather is one thing he won’t miss at all.

“Those blazing hot days and those really cold days can be pretty tough,” he said.

When the temperature soars above 90 degrees or drops below 45, officers can temporarily park the bikes in favor of 4-door cruisers.

Extreme temperatures didn’t always stop Huneycutt from firing up his Harley. He’s ridden in temperatures in the high 20s fahrenheit.

“The coldest ride I remember, I saw 27 degrees posted on the bank’s time and temperature sign,” he said, “and that was with out any wind chill, so you can imagine it was a cold ride.”

The riding gear is designed for safety and comfort and Huneycutt has used them for both.

The primary safety gear is the helmet, which comes complete with a zip-on neck flap and plugs into the bike and police radio for constant communications.

The jacket is heavy leather and hands and forearms are shielded by gauntlet style gloves for winter and smaller gloves in summer, both complete with kevlar liners.

The pants have a protective liner and fit into leather riding boots.

Huneycutt put every piece of that equipment to the ultimate test one sunny day when he realized a motorist was actively running a stop sign directly into his path.

“You are always looking for an escape route on a bike,” he said.

“I checked every option I had and there was really only one thing I could do to have a chance.”

With oncoming traffic in the left lane, a truck bearing down behind him and a vehicle suddenly entering his lane from the right, that “one thing” was to brake hard and lay the bike down.

Both rider and bike careened through the small space of lane left between the oncoming traffic and the moving violation.

“You never want to enter the path of oncoming traffic,” he said, “ and the last thing you want to do is broadside anything on a motorcycle.

“So I did what I had to...roll and tumble.”

Huneycutt escaped major injury and came out with an extremely sore back.

His riding garb was thinned in several places and worn to the inner kevlar liner in others, but no bones were broken.





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Photos


Albemarle Capt. J. D. Huneycutt has had memorable experiences as a motorcycle officer. None/ (Click for larger image)


None/ (Click for larger image)

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