As many as 30 all-terrain vehicle (ATV) riders surrounded and stopped an ambulance transporting a sick child on Monday, D.C. police said.
One of the bikers opened the ambulance door and threatened the driver. The ambulance driver was forced to called the police. The child in the ambulance was unharmed.
The incident on Monday involving a gang of ATV bike riders occurred just two days after a motorcycle-riding D.C. police officer was hit by a group of move than 50 ATV and dirt bike riders and dragged down the road.
“We have a gang of ATV and motorcycle riders blowing through stoplights, completely disregarding the safety of anybody that’s walking on the side of the street. There was a Segway tour coming through. There was no respect shown to anybody,” said Jeffery Johnston, who captured video of group of bikers just blocks away from where the ambulance was surrounded.
Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia Chief Cathy Lanier said the biker gangs “come back every summer.”
“It’s about seven jurisdictions,” Lanier said, including local, state, and federal law enforcement “all working together” to stop illegal ATV and dirt bike riders.
Last August, D.C. Metro police began offering $250 rewards in exchange for information on illegal dirt bikes and ATVs.
Police departments from Miami to Philadelphia have been grappling with ways to crackdown on the growing number of illegal dirt bike and ATV riders flooding their streets.
Last January, Miami-Dade police had to brace for dozens of bikers who were riding through the streets and terrorizing Martin Luther King parade goers.
Earlier this month, Philadelphia police seized 53 dirt bikes and ATVs in a city-wide sting.
“Mini-bikes, dirt bikes, all-terrain vehicles and other motorized bikes and multi-wheeled vehicles pose a danger to pedestrians and other motorists and are illegal to operate on DC’s streets,” a police flier distributed last year to D.C. residents said.
The suspects involved in this week’s incidences in D.C. remain at large.
Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter: @jeromeehudson
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