NYPD To Crush Illegal Bikes

NEW YORK – They’re “knuckleheads,” says New York police commissioner Bill Bratton, and a plan is now in place to combat illegal riders who show off on city streets by recklessly stunting on motorcycles, dirt bikes and ATVs. The plan is to crush confiscated bikes on live television.

“It’s all about them. It’s about them showing off and the pack mentality,” said Bratton at a press conference this week. “We will a little later this spring have a big crushing … where we intend to take all of these things and just crush them. They are illegal on the streets of New York.”

So far this year a total of 312 bikes have been seized, including 65 in the past two weeks alone, according to NYPD chief of patrol Carlos Gomez.

Police commissioner Bill Bratton, left, and chief of patrol Carlos Gomez

“Oftentime when they get on highways they will stop the traffic on the highway in order to perform stunts,” said Gomez. “They endanger motorists, they endanger bicyclists, they endanger pedestrians, they also endanger themselves.”

The NYPD is seeking the public’s help in thwarting these stunting riders. Gomez said illegal riders will be arrested when it is safe to do so. “We do not want to chase these individuals through the streets,” he said. “We believe that causes a greater danger.”

Photos courtesy of NYPD