Summer means the return of ATVs, dirt bikes taking over city streets, Dayton police say
Summer weather signals the return of ATVs and dirt bikes being driven illegally on Dayton city streets in what police said seems an annual ritual.
And sometimes the annual activity can result in bad results for drivers and police.
>> Driver found guilty in fatal Harrison Twp. hit-and-run
One such example happened about 3:30 a.m. Friday, when an ATV crashed into a Dayton police cruiser on South Broadway Street. An officer in the area of Germantown and South Paul Laurence Dunbar streets who saw the ATV, with its headlights off, made a U-turn and before he could alert other police patrols in the area, the four-wheeler went left of center and struck another police cruiser head on.
The ATV driver, who is being charged with OVI and traffic violations, and passenger suffered non-life-threatening injuries. They were taken to Miami Valley Hospital. The police officers who were in the cruiser, with the windshield smashed in the collision, were not injured.
“These vehicles [ATVs and dirt bikes] cannot be driven on the road unless they are properly licensed, insured and the drivers have a driver’s license,” Dayton police Lt. Randy Beane told News Center 7′s Mike Campbell.
“But it is an ongoing problem when it seems like every year where we have these vehicles driving recklessly, taking over streets and causing a danger to the public,” the lieutenant said.
Beane said police witnessed a large group of four-wheelers and dirt bikes on July 4, popping wheelies and performing other stunts on city streets.
“Go to the proper place to ride them,” Beane said. “City streets are not the appropriate place to drive those. Go out to a field or in the country, anywhere you’re allowed to drive them. That would be the appropriate place to drive them.”
The two on the ATV early Friday were lucky, he said; “We’ve seen it go the other way.”
Like what happened in August 2021, when Dayton officers spotted a large pack of ATVs bring driven illegally on Gettysburg Avenue. Most riders scattered but an officer approached a driver who briefly stalled his vehicle. That driver managed to get the ATV started and hit the officer, who then dragged the man off the ATV.
Deontaye Trammell, the driver whose ATV stalled that night, was sentenced to prison for using his four-wheeler to hit the officer.
“It’s important for officers to try to stop these vehicles,” Beane said, referring to the Friday morning collision as well as the 2021 incident. “It’s appropriate for the officer to . . . try to stop them because of the danger they pose to others.”
