According to police officials, law enforcement were able to prevent a possible gathering of ATV’s and dirt bikes from assembling.
BUFFALO, N.Y. — There have been a number of bad ATV crashes in the City of Buffalo in recent years.
Over the weekend, Buffalo Police say they were able to break up a possible rallying point of ATV’s and dirt bikes.
Buffalo Police say they were able to take tips, 911 calls and social media posts and prevent a group of ATV and dirt bike operators from possibly congregating.
Buffalo Police believe that rallying point was at McCarthy Park near Bennett High on Sunday.
A group of ATV and dirt bike riders had planned to ride throughout the city. These vehicles are illegal in the city.
In the past, we’ve seen groups of ATV’s and dirt bikes travel at high speed and cause property damage.
Police say they were able to get help from the Erie County Sheriff’s Office Air One helicopter.
“We were able to get some patrols over into that area which prevented the gathering from occurring in the first place and we think the activity was saw on Sunday was as a result of the inability of the group to gather as they were enroute to or from that location,” said Buffalo Police captain Jeff Rinaldo.
Several ATV’s and dirt bikes were impounded and will be examined to see if they’ve been stolen.
Operators of these vehicles got summonses for driving without a license and driving an unregistered vehicle. And there were a couple accidents reported.
Other rallying points for ATV’s and dirt bikes have varied from outside restaurants to gas stations and can be quite spontaneous.
Police say they don’t pursue these vehicles.
“It definitely presents some challenges, we do not pursue these vehicles because generally the operator of these vehicles are very unskilled drivers as we’ve said before we’ve seen some pretty bad accidents this summer,” Rinaldo said.
Police say they have seen ATV activity at Front Park and LaSalle Park, both of which are by the Peace Bridge.
