Texas Sheriff Waves Over Bicyclist for Consensual Encounter, Finds Meth, Sheriff Says

Photo Jasper County Sheriff’s Office A Texas man wearing a shirt declaring he could do whatever he wanted ended up in jail Wednesday morning after stopping to speak with a sheriff who spotted him riding a bicycle with bolt cutters strapped to it.

Clint Allen Craft, 44, of Kirbyville, was wearing a T-shirt reading, “I do a thing called whatever I want since day 1,” when Jasper County Sheriff Chuck Havard encountered him.

Around 7:32 a.m. on October 14, Havard was traveling north on Highway 96 when he noticed Craft riding in the same direction with a large black backpack and bolt cutters attached to his bicycle.

According to the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office, Havard pulled into a parking lot and waved the bicyclist toward him to conduct what the department called a “consensual police encounter.”

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The sheriff’s announcement included an unusual parenthetical explanation: “This means the man did not have to stop nor did he have to answer any questions.”

In a consensual encounter, police can ask someone to stop and talk without suspecting a crime, provided the person is free to refuse. Carrying bolt cutters on a bicycle is not, by itself, illegal.

“During the voluntary conversation between the bicyclist and Sheriff Havard, the man consented to a search of the backpack and his person,” the department wrote.

Havard reported finding methamphetamine in Craft’s right front pocket. Craft was arrested and transported to the Jasper County Jail on a state jail felony charge of possession of a controlled substance.

The bicycle attracted additional attention in the comments beneath the sheriff’s Facebook announcement.

One commenter claimed Craft had come to a home the previous evening asking for a bicycle to get to MLK. Someone at the residence reportedly gave him an old bicycle from beneath a carport, but the commenter said the bolt cutters were not part of the arrangement.

The sheriff’s office responded publicly, asking the commenter to make contact by telephone. The account has not been independently verified, and the department did not announce a theft charge.

Havard also had something to say about Craft’s shirt.

“Despite what his shirt says and his extensive criminal history, our staff will do whatever we can try to get this man assistance,” the sheriff wrote. “However, he will be held accountable in our courts.”

All parties are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.

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