Perhaps it’s because I’ve been riding motorcycles for over 50 years now that I’ve been somewhat sympathetic toward the young people riding dirt bikes and ATVs on city streets. That changed when one of the riders got his bike clipped by a 72-year-old man driving a pickup truck. The dirt bikers pulled the man out of his vehicle and assaulted him … for an accident that was most likely the fault of the dirt bike rider.
My support of the dirt bike riders ended with that incident.
I’ve long been a proponent of the stalled dirt bike track Mayor Jackson proposed almost two years ago. My logic is simple: Virtually all young men like to engage in risky behavior and the young blacks riding dirt bikes are no different. Skydiving, bungee jumping, paragliding — there is no end to the ways in which adrenaline-fueled thrill-seekers can engage in to satiate their desire for danger.
However, while young men with the financial wherewithal can get their kicks in one of the aforementioned endeavors that don’t pose a danger to anyone but themselves, young inner-city residents usually don’t have those options; they ride dirt bikes through city streets instead. I get it; they want to get their thrills too.
Nonetheless, when they attack a motorist over an accident caused by one of their own, they have crossed the line. It’s time to reel them in.
Since the riders use social media to communicate when they are going to mob-up for a ride through peaceful neighborhoods it should be easy for the police to know when and where they are gathering for one of their dangerous rides. A young undercover cop should join their group and inform a task force of cops of their location before the ride begins.
Since they have crossed the line from simple joyriding and are now beating up citizens that get in their way, their bikes should be seized; let them go to court to get their bikes and ATVs back. And if they get new bikes, take those too. This really cannot be all that complicated.
I’m still in favor of a dirt bike track being built for those who want to use it, but those who would rather use our city streets as a racetrack have to be stopped before someone gets killed, something that is bound to happen sooner or later. It’s up to Police Chief Williams and his command staff to figure out how to stop them … that’s what they get paid to do.
Enough is enough.
From CoolCleveland correspondent Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com. Frazier’s From Behind The Wall: Commentary on Crime, Punishment, Race and the Underclass by a Prison Inmate is available in hardback. Snag your copy and have it signed by the author at http://NeighborhoodSolutionsInc.