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Street takeover behavior, especially with people on dirt bikes and ATVs, has been a real problem in different cities for years. Police in New Haven, Connecticut even have a special team dedicated to combatting the trend, but their latest foray is getting them some flak from some members of the community.
Motorcycles and ATVs keep taking over Boston streets.
On April 28, one of these officers was driving on a road that’s been closed to vehicles since 2020. You can see in the shared dashcam footage he passes families walking and people riding bikes. What he was looking for is people on ATVs who have been using the pathway to access a park, says WWLP.
That’s when the officer spotted a speeding ATV headed in the same direction as the pedestrians. He was most definitely putting their lives at risk, all for just a little thrill.
Like we’ve seen so often with these street takeover types, the guy on the ATV was wearing a balaclava, which they do to hide their identity.
You can see in the footage the cop moves his patrol car into the path of the speeding ATV. According to WWLP, police say the rider could have gone around the cruiser, putting him off the trajectory of the family who was walking on the pathway.
Instead, he swerved, the ATV toppling and throwing him right onto the hood and windshield of the cruiser. Because the rider was going so fast, he sustained serious injuries, but exactly what wasn’t specified.
“This is an unfortunate and stark reminder of the extreme dangers of illegal ATV and dirt bike riding on city streets, both for pedestrians and the operators of the vehicles themselves,” New Haven Police Chief Karl Jacobson said in a statement Tuesday.
We couldn’t agree more. People who want to blame the police are ignoring the fact that a speeding ATV could have killed multiple members of the family out on a walk, or anyone else who happened to be on that footpath. The officer has a duty to protect those people, even if it means the one who’s putting them at risk gets hurt.
Images via WFSB 3/YouTube
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