The NYPD announced an aggressive new crackdown on dirt bikes and ATVs in the city, a campaign that will include publicly destroying the vehicles on TV. Criminal justice reporter Dean Meminger has the details.
"Knuckleheads, nitwits, clowns — whatever you want to call them, any of those descriptions are very appropriate."
Those harsh words came from police commissioner Bill Bratton describing people riding dirt bikes and ATVs, which are banned in the city.
As the weather is about to warm up, the NYPD is turning up the heat on the bikers, who often ride in packs, performing stunts on streets and highways disrupting traffic and endangering drivers.
"In the last two weeks we have made 65 seizures on dirt bikes, motorcycles and ATVs," said Carlos Gomez, chief of patrol for the NYPD. "We also made a dozen arrests for driving recklessly, driving on sidewalks, driving down wrong-way streets."
NY1 got an exclusive look at hundreds of confiscated bikes and ATVs at an NYPD impound lot in Brooklyn.
The police commissioner said he is going to make a public spectacle of the NYPD's crackdown by destroying the bikes on TV.
"These bikes that are so near and dear to them, when you take a look at them, a lot of them are dressed up," Bratton said. "They put a lot of time and energy into them but they are not going to be too happy when we take those damn things and crush them so they can't be used."
The NYPD will set up checkpoints to catch illegal bikers and step up enforcement on weekends using its highway and aviation units. They want people to call 911 if they see the bikers.
The NYPD says the majority of the bikes they confiscate are not returned, but that’s because the owners don't show up for them. Cops say the bikes usually are not registered.
"Basically the individuals operating these bikes, these knuckleheads if you will," Bratton said. "It is all about them. It is all about them showing off in the pack mentality."
Although enforcement will increase, the chief of patrol says cops will be ordered not to get into high speed chases with the bikers, because chases could make the streets even more dangerous.
