Los Angeles police corralled and arrested scores of minibike riders on Sunday, thwarting a takeover of 6th Street Bridge, police said.
Officers encountered a group of more than 70 young people — many of them minors — operating unauthorized motorized minibikes while blocking the bridge, performing doughnuts and wheelies, riding on the wrong side of the roadway, and weaving in and out of traffic, according to an LAPD Facebook post.
In addition to the arrests, there were 78 minibikes and pocket bikes impounded in the operation in downtown L.A., said Sgt. Robert Leary of the LAPD Street Racing Task Force.
“We got intel that there was going to be a takeover on the 6th Street Bridge with e-bikes and minibikes,” said Leary. “We got a team together so we could … block them in. It’s really the only way we could combat this problem.”
Leary said that once the riders were surrounded on the bridge, police took them into custody without incident.
All violators were cited with riding an illegal bike on city streets, and — since “half the group” were juveniles — police notified parents, who came to the scene to take custody of their children, Leary said.
Local news video showed the bridge temporarily closed as LAPD officers stood among youths lined up with their hands zip-tied behind their backs.
Dozens of minibikes were loaded onto tow vehicles as, behind yellow tape, parents could be seen waiting to pick up their children.
In addition to 78 misdemeanor arrests, Leary said police impounded two vehicles whose drivers were “aiding and abetting.”
L.A. Police Deputy Chief German Hurtado told KTLA that police had been tracking the minibike-riding group because they were known for such illegal activity.
“We were following this group until we got them into a position where we could safely stop them all, take them into custody and impound the minibikes,” Hurtado said.
Personnel from the California Highway Patrol and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department also took part in the operation, according to the news outlet.
Minibikes don’t meet Department of Motor Vehicles safety provisions and are illegal to drive on streets or sidewalks in California and many other states. They can be legally driven only on private property with the owner’s consent.
OnScene.TV contributed to this report.
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