They came from all over, repping New York, Boston and other parts of that Northeast “bike life.”
The plan was to converge en masse on the streets of New Haven this past weekend with hundreds of dirt bikes and ATVs, flexing, stunting on city streets illegally, and generally annoying the locals.
But what the riders hadn’t planned on Sunday was a hardy welcome in the form of uniformed and plain clothes police officers waiting for them at the city limits, rolling up to gas stations and other meeting spots ready to encourage them to leave town, arrest them and confiscate their wheels.
On Tuesday afternoon police proudly displayed evidence at the training academy on Sherman Parkway of the weekend success: the seized vehicles (pictured above), piled together where they can’t bother anybody.
They also detailed how the menacing motors ended up in their possession.
How’d the cops find them? The riders posted their whereabouts on social media sites like Facebook, Sgt. Karl Jacobson (pictured), supervisor of the New Haven Police Department Intelligence Unit, said at Tuesday’s event.
Jacobson said that an East Haven officer had kept up with posts from bike lifers, so cops from New Haven and surrounding cities, along with state troopers, knew they were coming to town. New Haven coordinated the effort that allowed law enforcement to show up at places and catch people and their bikes before they even realized what was happening, Jacobson said.
“We wanted to do it safely,” Jacobson said of Sunday’s crackdown. That meant strictly adhering to the department’s no chase policy, which allowed some riders to get away. It also allowed some of those riders to taunt police and take pictures and videos of their friend’s bikes being confiscated. Those pictures have since been posted to social media, but you won’t see any officers retaliating on those videos. “All of the officers were very professional,” Jacobson said.
“When they realized what was happening, some threw down their bikes and hopped on the back of another bike,” Jacobson said of the riders. They also jumped on social media to warn people that New Haven streets were crawling with cops who were ready to roll on bikers and warned people to stay away, or to head to Waterbury instead.
In New Haven, officers arrested nine riders and confiscated their dirt bikes or ATVs. With the help of officers from other towns, Jacobson said, another 10 bikes were seized and additional people were arrested. The majority of the riders arrested were from out of town. Jacobson said they were charged with second-degree reckless endangerment, which is a criminal charge. Some also were charged with interfering with a police officer.
Jacobson said the goal of the operation was to let the bikers know that New Haven would not tolerate nearly 300 bikers illegally taking over city streets, and endangering peoples’ lives. In years past, bikers have converged on the city, three or four times a year, but Jacobson said he thinks the word is getting out that New Haven will take your bike if they can catch you.
That said, Jacobson acknowledged that Sunday’s crackdown stopped an event that didn’t appear to be heavily populated by local riders and the cops still need the help of residents to catch those riders who live in New Haven neighborhoods and ride illegally on city streets.
“On Sunday, there were about 100 bikes on the Boulevard, popping wheelies,” Jacobson said. “We are lucky no one was hurt.”
The reckless endangerment charge allowed the cops to seize the bikes, and could ultimately allow them to become the city’s property. If that happens, Jacobson said the bikes would be sold at auction.
Officer David Hartman, spokesman for the New Haven police, said while some bikers argue that “this is a victimless crime,” he said it is hardly that because people have been injured. He urged people to call the tip line at 203 – 946-6298, and tell the police where the bikes are being stored.
“If we have the personnel, we’ll set up a plain clothes officer there until we catch them,” he said.
Nicely done! Thank you NHPD. Confiscate and crush.