Iowa GOP state senator arrested on RAGBRAI, charged with interference with official acts

An Iowa state senator has been arrested while riding on RAGBRAI after refusing to move out of the road when asked by law enforcement, according to a criminal complaint.

Sen. Adrian Dickey, R-Packwood, was arrested Monday afternoon and charged with interference with official acts, a simple misdemeanor.

“I am absolutely innocent of the charge filed against me," Dickey said in a statement, referring further questions to his attorney.

According to a criminal complaint from the Sac County Sheriff's Office, Sgt. Jonathan Meyer was working RAGBRAI when he saw a group of people stopped in the middle of the road on Quincy Avenue in Carnarvon, an unincorporated community in Sac County.

Meyer said the group had been there since 2:42 p.m. when he approached them about an hour and a half later, at 4:10 p.m., to tell them to move so law enforcement could open the road.

"The individual advised that he was not going to move," Meyer wrote in the complaint. "I advised him he needed to move on other wise (sic) he would be going to jail. He advised me to arrest him."

Meyer said he placed Dickey under arrest after Dickey "kept arguing with me about what he was going to do."

Dickey's attorney, Matt Schultz, said Dickey was not part of the group that was blocking the road.

"Sen. Dickey was riding in RAGBRAI earlier this week. He and his team took an alternate route that led them to a place where several hundred people were blocking a road," Schultz said in a statement. "Sen. Dickey and his team were trying to get through the party of people and onto the bike trail, when a misunderstanding occurred between the senator and a sheriff's deputy. Sen. Dickey is innocent and believes that the evidence will show that he was not part of the party blocking the road."

Interference with official acts is a simple misdemeanor, punishable by up to 30 days in jail.

Dickey, 49, was released from the Sac County Jail after posting a $300 bond.

Dickey represents Iowa Senate District 44 in southeast Iowa, covering Keokuk, Jefferson and Van Buren counties and parts of Mahaska and Henry counties. He was first elected to the Iowa Senate in a 2021 special election and won a full four-year term last year.

Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. He can be reached by email at sgrubermil@registermedia.com or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on Twitter at @sgrubermiller.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Republican Iowa Sen. Adrian Dickey arrested during RAGBRAI