Authorities said a teen on an e-motorcycle ride in downtown Palm Springs tried to engage officers in a chase but paid the price for forgetting a key component of police pursuits: the eyes in the sky.
A video posted Wednesday on social media by the Palm Springs Police Department showed drone footage of a teen riding an electric motorcycle, popping wheelies in traffic and doing doughnuts at an intersection in downtown Palm Springs on June 26. A sergeant saw the rider, who police said was trying “to bait officers into a pursuit,” and called it in.
Rather than chase him, authorities came up with another — stealthier — plan.
“Instead of giving the suspect the pursuit he seemed to be looking for, officers used drone technology and coordinated tactics to safely monitor his movements into Cathedral City,” the department wrote on Facebook.
The 15-year-old boy eventually stopped at a park in Cathedral City and got off the bike. That’s when police moved in, taking him into custody after a brief scuffle, the video shows.
While seated in the back of the police car, authorities said, the teen shattered one of the vehicle’s windows. He was arrested on suspicion of reckless driving, resisting an officer and felony vandalism, police said.
Communities across Southern California have been grappling with a proliferation of young riders on electric bikes and motorcycles on city streets, engaging in dangerous maneuvers and, sometimes, engaging police in chases.
Last month in Orange, a teen riding an e-motorcycle without a helmet tried to outrun a motorcycle officer inside Grijalva Park in an incident captured on body camera footage.
Spoiler alert: It didn’t work.
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