PLYMOUTH, MASS. (WHDH) - The Plymouth police department issued a stern warning to a group of residents they say have been “causing havoc” in downtown and North Plymouth since April: “middle school bicycle gangs”.
Police said that since April 1 they’ve responded to more than 25 calls reporting disruptive behavior by juveniles on bikes. After interacting with both the kids and parents, some of whom police said “don’t seem to care either”, the department has a new plan for dealing with these “youngsters”.
“The juvenile bicycle gang thing was fun while it lasted, but starting today, enough is enough,” the department posted to Facebook Thursday.
From now on, Plymouth PD say that if an officer notices a bicycle violation from any of the riders, a $20 citation will be issued to the parent of the offender and the bike in question will be impounded for 15 days. If the offender is over the age of 16, the citation will go to them, not their parents. Their bike will still be impounded.
“These youngsters are rolling five to 10 deep in their ‘Middle School bicycle gangs’ and have no regard for traffic laws, or… anything,” the department wrote on Facebook. “This behavior is dangerous, unnecessary, and unacceptable.”
According to authorities, reported behavior has included “kids riding in the middle of Rt. 3A, swerving at cars, harassing and swearing at pedestrians, fighting, kicking at doors on houses, lighting fireworks off while riding the bike, riding at geese, purposefully damaging flowers, assaulting two people on the bike path, and lots of ‘middle fingers’ being thrown.”
“I was leaving work one evening and they came around the corner, popping wheelies, coming directly at you, and it just takes you off guard,” one woman said. “It was scary and very dangerous, and you could kill a kid. It’d ruin your whole life.”
Another woman said the middle school bikers often bothered an outdoor yoga class that meets at Nelson Park.
“They kind of would follow us and yell profanities and through Skittles and stuff,” she said. “At first, it was kind of funny, but then we were like, ‘Okay, when is this going to end?'”
Ginine Marcurio saw a group of kids at a Dunkin’ Donuts.
“They had dumped all their bikes in the handicapped spot in front of the store. They were inside the building, wrestling around, so I said, ‘Hey, you guys can’t park there. That’s the handicapped spot. You have to have a car with a plate that says you can park there,’ and the kid said, ‘My bike has a handicapped plate,'” Marcurio said.
Police said some of the youths have given authorities the middle finger as well.
“Please note that bicyclists have to follow all of the same rules as a motor vehicle,” police said.
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