Iowa Sen. Dickey Arrested At RAGBRAI For Arguing With Cop

State Sen. Adrian Dickey was arrested in rural Sac County on Monday after refusing law enforcement orders to stop blocking a roadway during RAGBRAI, according to a criminal complaint.

Dickey, a Republican from Packwood who represents District 44 in southeast Iowa, was arrested at 4:15 p.m. Monday, July 24.

According to the police complaint, Dickey was among a “big party” that had stopped “in the middle of the road” on Quincy Avenue in Carnarvon.

“The party had been there since 1442 hrs [2:42 p.m.] and it was approximately 1610 hrs [4:10 p.m.] when I had advised a subject [Sen. Dickey] to move on as we needed to open the road,” Sac County Sgt. Jonathan Meyer wrote in the complaint, which was first reported on by Bleeding Heartland.

According to Meyer, Dickey “advised that he was not going to move” and, when told he would be arrested for failing to comply with Meyer’s order, “advised me to arrest him.”

Nevertheless, Meyer said he continued to give the state senator chances to move along, writing in his complaint that Dickey could simply “go that way” where the road did not need to be opened back up to traffic.

Dickey apparently did not take the hint, and “kept arguing with me about what he was going to do,” Meyer wrote.

So Meyer arrested him for interference with official acts, a simple misdemeanor punishable by a minimum fine of $250.

Dickey was booked into the Sac County Jail and bonded out the next morning after Sac County Deputy Auditor Jalonna Ehler posted his $300 bail.

Dickey’s preliminary court hearing on the charge is Aug. 8.

In an emailed statement to Iowa political journalist Dave Price, Dickey said, “I am absolutely innocent of the single charge filed against me.”

During the 2022 Iowa legislative session, Dickey introduced a bill that would have made it illegal for law enforcement agents to arrest anyone participating in RAGBRAI.

by Amie Rivers
07/26/23

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