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Warren neighborhood achieves small victory as two dirt bikes get towed Saturday
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
Tina Milner, longtime neighborhood organizer, counts it as a victory that their efforts helped take two dirt bikes off the streets Saturday that have been used wrecklessly in a Northwest neighborhood.
Police reported that they got a call at 7:43 p.m. about two dirt bikes “riding the streets” in the area of Mahoning Avenue and Packard Street Northwest.
Officers who had warned dirt bike riders a month or two ago not to ride off-road vehicles on the city streets and sidewalks stopped two riders on Wilson Avenue Northwest, Milner said.
The youths cause damage to people’s yards and Packard Park, they ride on the sidewalks and railroad tracks, and they behave disrespectfully toward residents of the neighborhood, Milner said. It’s also illegal to ride off-road vehicles on city streets, and the riders likely are to get themselves injured or killed, she said.
The dirt bikes, which belonged to boys age 15 with addresses on the East Side, were towed to an impound lot, police said.
The youths and their parents will have to pay to recover the bikes, but no criminal charges will be filed this time, police said.
If there is a next time, it’s possible charges will be filed.
Milner said it’s a victory for residents and members of the Roosevelt Area Neighborhood Watch Group, of which she is coordinator.
“We are so thrilled,” Milner said. “It sends a message.”
Milner said she encouraged her neighbors to call 911 when they heard or saw the riders coming through the neighborhood, and residents did. The problem has existed more than a month, Milner said.
According to the county 911 center, it had received six calls Saturday about the issue.
Police have been responding to the calls, but it’s difficult to catch the riders, Milner said.
Saturday was an example of police officers addressing a nuisance issue when they have time, she said. It’s crucial for various residents to call over and over when the issue arises.
A Packard Street man who videotaped some of the youths said four of them approached him in a threatening way recently, Milner said.
It displays an “attitude of lawlessness” she has seen among some of the youths. “They’ll confront anyone. They don’t care,” she said.