The dirt bike menace on Baltimore's streets
They ride in groups of two, three or a dozen at a time, gleefully popping wheelies on congested city streets, swarming around startled motorists or blithely sailing through stop signals at busy intersections. Hell’s Angels? No, just your garden-variety Baltimore dirt bikers, a native species that seems to delight in thumbing their noses at both the law and common courtesy on the road.
Baltimore police were again confronted with the bikers’ lawless antics on Wednesday, when an unlicensed teenage rider and his passenger ran a red light and slammed into a sedan at a West Baltimore intersection. The rider was thrown from the bike and suffered a broken wrist and arm, but the car’s driver was relatively unhurt — until the bike’s passenger and other youths set on him, beating him so severely that he had to be rushed to Maryland Shock Trauma Center.
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Source: The dirt bike menace on Baltimore's streets
Baltimore police were again confronted with the bikers’ lawless antics on Wednesday, when an unlicensed teenage rider and his passenger ran a red light and slammed into a sedan at a West Baltimore intersection. The rider was thrown from the bike and suffered a broken wrist and arm, but the car’s driver was relatively unhurt — until the bike’s passenger and other youths set on him, beating him so severely that he had to be rushed to Maryland Shock Trauma Center.
Quote from the article:
| The attack followed an incident earlier in the week in which a 41-year-old motorcyclist was killed after swerving into a post to avoid hitting an unlicensed dirt-bike whose rider was recklessly carrying a 2-year-old child. The dirt-bike rider then fled the scene, abandoning the injured toddler. Given the bikers’ egregiously irresponsible behavior, it’s hard to take seriously the claim, put forward Wednesday at a community forum organized by City Council President Bernard C. “Jack” Young, that the riders are innocent victims of police harassment who only need the encouragement of a little respect in order to be positive forces in their communities. “We are not the Taliban,” dirt bike rider Munir Bahar complained at the gathering, according to the news website Investigative Voices. “We are your sons, we are your fathers, we are your sisters. … We are not a rogue pack of riders,” he insisted. Mr. Bahar, who was accompanied by about a dozen fellow enthusiasts, said dirt bikes should be legal in Baltimore as a form of recreation like any other. He denounced the negative stereotypes of riders as lawless youths and criticized police who “chase us and hunt us down like we just assassinated the president.” He even claimed that dirt-bikers help fight crime, though he didn’t say how — and no wonder, since every time Mr. Bahar and his fellows hop on their illegal bikes they’re, well, committing a crime. |
Source: The dirt bike menace on Baltimore's streets
