Several weeks ago, I wrote about Chris Heaps, the Portland cyclist and attorney who planned to file a citizen-initiated citation against Lisa Wheeler, the woman accused of hitting cyclist Siobhan Doyle at Interstate and Greeley this fall.

Today, Heaps has a post on BikePortland.org, explaining the red tape he encountered while trying to file the damn citation (note: his write up doesn’t include the problems he and a few other cyclists encountered while simply trying to track down Wheeler’s address, which was reportedly incorrect on the police report from the collision).

After about 15 minutes, a haggard looking woman in her early 50s emerged scanning the room. As soon as she saw me, she walked briskly over to me. “What is this?” she asked impatiently. Again, I explained. She looked puzzled still, and I was afraid we were at the end of the line. I thought of stuffing the complaint in her shirt and running away. But it was a long way to the security checkpoint and I knew I wouldn’t make it through without a severe beating at the hands of the County’s thugs.

“Follow me,” she said in a surprisingly friendly way. Back down the stairs we went, and around a few corners. We paused in front of one of the many locked, unnumbered heavy wood doors, where she knocked. After a moment, we heard the door being unlocked and an eye peered out from a crack in the doorway. She pushed through and slammed the door in my face as I stepped forward, foolishly thinking I might be invited into the inner sanctum. I found a bench in the hallway and waited, still clasping my complaint form.