<div><noscript><img post-id=Iowa bicyclist stole mechanic's uniform to elude police, officers allege
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Iowa bicyclist stole mechanic's uniform to elude police, officers allege
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A 26-year-old Davenport man was in custody Monday after Bettendorf Police allege he rode a bike the wrong way in traffic, then ran into a car dealership and stole a mechanic’s uniform to evade police, according to arrest affidavits.

John Rule Jr. (Scott County Jail)

John Rule Jr. faces a felony charge of second-degree burglary; serious misdemeanor charges of interference with official acts – bodily injury, interference with official acts – bodily injury and two charges of eluding; and an aggravated misdemeanor charge of interference with official acts – obstruct prosecution, court records show.

According to arrest affidavits, the incident happened shortly before 2:30 p.m. Saturday, when an officer saw Rule riding a bike and disobeying traffic control devices and dodging cars in traffic while illegally crossing the road, “all constituting a traffic hazard.” The officer activated the lights and sirens of a fully marked Bettendorf Police squad car and tried to stop him, affidavits say.

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The officer pursued Rule as he went the wrong way against traffic while pedaling “at full speed” on the shoulder of Spruce Hills near Utica Ridge Road, say affidavits, which show Rule “cut off a vehicle and drove the wrong way in traffic” while crossing the road to evade the officer.

The officer gave PA (public-address) announcements to Rule to stop, according to affidavits, which show Rule eventually left his bike and jumped a fence onto the property of Green Buick GMC, “entered the open mechanic garage bay door in an area that is not generally open to the public” and “stole a mechanic’s uniform and fled through the building, ditching the uniform in the parking lot on the other side of Green Buick GMC.”

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Rule then illegally crossed the road on foot in front of another officer who was in another Bettendorf Police squad car with lights and sirens activated, and he fled from that officer on foot “until he became tired and submitted to arrest at Taser-point,” according to affidavits, which show “One officer was injured via cuts on his hand in the process of climbing the fence to chase the subject.”

Rule, officers allege, “admitted to running through Green Buick GMC in order to evade police and admitted to stealing a uniform to attempt to conceal his identity.”

Rule, who was being held Monday in Scott County Jail on a total $12,350 cash-only bond, is set for a preliminary hearing June 18 in Scott County Court.