LAKELAND, Fla. – Late Wednesday night in Lakeland, a ride under the stars turned into a one-way trip to the Polk County Jail for a local man who decided to test the limits of a traffic stop.
Investigators say around 11 p.m. on February 4th, a Polk County deputy spotted a bicyclist pedaling on a bicycle near the intersection of South Wabash Avenue and West Highland Street. The problem? The bike was completely blacked out—no lights, no reflectors, and no visibility in a high-traffic area.
What started as a standard safety stop for an equipment violation quickly spiraled into a legal showdown. When the deputy pulled the rider over and asked for his ID, the man, later identified as 44-year-old Michael Richard Barnes, reportedly decided to play amateur lawyer…