Judge tosses conviction for obstructing entryway with bike

CHICAGO (AP) - A federal judge in Chicago has tossed the conviction of a man for chaining his bike to the railing on a handicap ramp outside a veterans’ hospital.

The Chicago Daily Law Bulletin reports a magistrate judge last year found Pedro Donaldson guilty of violating a U.S. law that prohibits “unreasonable” obstructions of entryways at VA facilities. He was sentenced to 30 days of unsupervised probation.

But U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis said in a ruling last week that the facts don’t support findings that the obstruction was “unreasonable.” The bike wasn’t on the ramp but on the grass with a chain around the railing and the handlebars just hanging over the ramp.

Ellis said she would have upheld the conviction had the bike itself been on the ramp.

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Information from: Chicago Daily Law Bulletin , http://www.chicagolawbulletin.com