Thomas Breen photo
Asst. Chief Renee Dominguez (right) with seized bikes, quads.
Cops arrested nine dirt bike and ATV riders and seized 12 of their vehicles as part of a crackdown on roughly 60 Connecticut residents who descended here Sunday to ride illegally through New Haven’s parks and streets.
Assistant Police Chief Karl Jacobson made that announcement Monday afternoon during a press conference held in the back parking lot of the city police department’s garage at 710 Sherman Pkwy.
Standing alongside eight dirt bikes and quads that New Haven officers seized as part of Sunday’s police response, Jacobson said that those arrested ranged in age from 15 to 43 years old. Three are New Haven residents, two from West Haven, two from East Haven, one from Wethersfield, and one from Hartford. All nine were given misdemeanor summonses to appear in court.
Jacobson said the charges include second-degree reckless endangerment, reckless driving, and interfering with a police officer.
Asst. Police Chief Karl Jacobson at Monday’s presser.
Jacobson said that New Haven police made seven of the arrests and eight of the vehicle and ATV seizures, and West Haven police made two of the arrests and four of the vehicle seizures. The group of riders made their way Sunday afternoon through and around Edgewood Park, with some going down to West Haven, some across to East Rock, and some over to Fair Haven.
(Click on the video at the top of this article to watch riders travelling through College Woods Park in East Rock Sunday afternoon. The video was submitted by Brooks Walsh.)
“It’s like a mob scene,” Jacobson said in describing yesterday’s group ride as well as the general threat to pedestrian and driver safety posed by people who ride dirt bikes with no regard for traffic signals or stop signs. “It totally disrupts traffic, and puts people in danger.”
“The individuals that are riding in our cities are disrespecting our laws. They’re terrorizing our neighborhoods. They’re putting thousands of people at risk,” added Mayor Justin Elicker (pictured) at Monday’s presser. “The city of New Haven has no tolerance for this kind of behavior. … If you come to our city and you ride, we will stop you.”
Jacobson said that roughly 60 riders sped through and around Edgewood Park yesterday afternoon before making their way to other parts of the city.
He said that city police believe that most of those riders came from Wethersfield and Hartford, and that the traveling group had a U‑Haul truck hidden somewhere in the city that they used to bring the bikes down to New Haven.
Jacobson said that, based on intelligence collected by the police department, a majority of the upstate group packed up their bikes into the U‑Haul and fled New Haven after city police arrested one Hartford resident and one Wethersfield resident earlier in the afternoon.
The assistant chief said that the police department’s patrol division collaborated with plainclothes officers in response to the mass bike ride and make the arrests that they did.
“Patrol officers called in locations, and got plainclothes officers in position to make arrests,” he said.
“We will use any means necessary, except chasing. We’re not going to put anybody at risk.”
Monday afternoon’s press conference.
He said the work of actually arresting a dirt bike or ATV rider travelling illegally through the city involves officers gathering intelligence on where bikers might be, creating a perimeter, and then physically grabbing whoever doesn’t get to their bikes quickly enough or whoever’s bike doesn’t start.
Jacobson said that the department did use a surveillance drone to gather information on where bikers were in the city on Sunday.
He added that the police department is currently pulling surveillance footage from cameras located throughout the city to help them make more arrests of people who participated in Sunday’s illegal ride.
“If you did not get caught yesterday, that does not mean we won’t be showing up at your door pretty soon,” he warned.
For now, he said, the bikes and ATVs will remain in police custody. He said the department and the mayor are still working out whether or not to try to sell these seized bikes, or to crush them and put them out of commission entirely.
Jacobson also said that the mayor, the corporation counsel office, and the police department are also working on drafting a new proposed ordinance that would allow for stiffer penalties against those caught riding dirt bikes and quads illegally through the city.
He said that law might allow for $1,000 fines as well as arrests.
A Chucky Doll design on one of the seized ATVs.
The assistant chief said that two city police officers suffered minor injuries while making the arrests, including a scraped knee and a twisted back. The officers are back on duty today. None of the riders suffered any injuries, Jacobson said.
“We need citizens’ help,” Jacobson said.
If anyone has any tips about, say, a neighbor who has 12 dirt bikes in their garage, or any other information about people who ride dirt bikes and quads illegally through the city, they can call an anonymous police tip line at 1 – 866-888-TIPS (8477) or 203 – 946-6296.
People can also send a text to 274637 with any information they’d like to share with the police, or email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
Crush them!