Bratton Sends A Message As NYPD Destroys Illegal Bikes And ATVs
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The NYPD sent a strong message on Tuesday, as Police Commissioner Bratton oversaw the demolition of dozens of illegal bikes and ATVs.
It's an effort to prevent scenes like the one on the West Side Highway three-years-ago when a driver was beaten by a gang of bikers.
As CBS2's Brian Conybeare explained, the West Side Highway gets backed up around rush hour, but on weekends the wide open road is often used by outlaw biker gangs to race and pop wheelies, putting themselves and others in danger.
Commissioner Bratton waved a checkered flag to start what the NYPD called a 'crush in' in Red Hook. A bulldozer went to work on 70 illegal, unregistered, and often stolen motorcycles, ATVs, and dirt bikes that had been confiscated by police.
"We want to send out a very strong message to the nitwits and knuckleheads who insist on operating these illegal vehicles on the streets, sidewalks, parks, housing developments," Bratton said.
As the weather warms up, bikers swarm like loud, motorized bees on certain streets with no regard for pedestrians and other motorists. In extreme cases they've even attacked drivers.
"I see them riding like crazy all the time, and they're always riding in groups without helmets. They don't care about who's passing by or not," Janice Nunez said.
Nunez lives on the Grand Concourse in the Bronx and said she lost her eldest daughter to an out of control biker.
She watched as the NYPD confiscated eight illegal bikes from her neighborhood on Sunday, using a helicopter above to spot the bikers and direct ground units to box them in without high-speed chases.
"You really can't hide from our eyes in the sky," Carlos Gomez, NYPD Chief of Patrol said, "You will be arrested and we will be taking your bike."
So far in 2016, the cops have nabbed 679 motorcycles, dirt bikes, ATVs, and a bicycle rigged with a makeshift motor that is not street legal.
The seizures represent a 96 percent jump over last year.
Nunez welcomes the idea of crushing the bikes to get them off the street permanently.
"That would be amazing. Yes! Less people will be getting hurt, no more deaths," she said.
Dirt bikes and ATVs are not allowed anywhere in New York City, so they don't to sell them to the public.
Bratton said there were five deaths last year related to illegal bikers, so far this year there haven't been any. Police hope to keep it that way.