New York City officials crushed over 200 illegal mopeds and scooters that police have seized off city streets in a crackdown against what authorities described as the “tools of the trade” for many criminals committing crimes against businesses and citizens throughout the city.
NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell joined Mayor Eric Adams and NYPD Commissioner Edward A. Caban on Wednesday at the Fresh Kills Landfill on Staten Island, where they announced enhanced enforcement efforts against illegal vehicles throughout the summer. “These illegal bikes are our number one quality of life issue in this city and also tools of the trade for the many crimes being committed,” he said. “They are a complete menace to the streets of New York City.”
Chell said that 41,000 illegal mopeds and scooters have been seized over the past two years, with 13,000 of the illegal vehicles being seized since Jan. 1. Chell added that the seizures were on a record pace of 30,000 by the end of 2024.
“Not only are they illegally registered,” Chell said of the more than 200 bikes lying on the ground of the landfill, “there’s murderers on these bikes, there are shooters on these bikes, robbers on these bikes, reckless drivers putting our public at peril.”
After the press conference, bulldozers were driven over the illegal mopeds and scooters to flatten the vehicles.
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The announcement comes after two NYPD officers were shot early Monday after chasing a suspect who was driving an illegal scooter on the wrong side of the street. The suspect, an illegal immigrant from Venezuela who was suspected of using the scooter in multiple crimes, was also shot during a foot pursuit. Both officers and the suspect survived the shooting.
As of Sunday, public police data showed that while overall crime citywide was down, robbery and felony assault were both up 6.3% and 5.1% since this time last year.
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