UPDATE: Monday, June 10, 12:15 p.m.: A teenager was arrested on June 3 in connection to a police officer getting knocked to the ground in Central Park, NYPD announced over the weekend.
Bronx resident Brent Rosa, 18, was arrested and charged with assault on a police officer, reckless endangerment and leaving a scene of an incident without reporting, after a police officer was struck and knocked to the ground on May 24 within Central Park near West 90th Street, when he was escorting three people riding motorcycles out of the park.
Rosa has pled not guilty to all three charges and is due back in court on July 23, records show.
No arrests have been announced related to the two other motorcycle riders.
Original Story
By Gus Saltonstall
A police officer was knocked to the ground last week while attempting to escort motorcycle riders out of Central Park, NYPD said on Monday.
Around 4 p.m. on Friday, an on-duty NYPD officer was ushering three motorcyclist out of the park near West Drive and West 90th Street, when one of the men struck the cop, causing him to fall to the ground, police said.
The Daily News reported that one of the men punched the officer in the face.
The trio of riders then fled in an unknown direction, police said.
The officer was taken to Mount Sinai Morningside Hospital and treated for minor injuries.
NYPD released a photo of the three suspects.
Anyone with information in regard to this incident is asked to call the NYPD s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).
Subscribe to West Side Rag’s FREE email newsletter here.
They should never go at it alone. Call for backup.
It is all a very predictable escalation. Criminals have been given the green light to disrespect authority by our elected officials. Perhaps their motives were well-meaning, but the results are deleterious to us all.
Nothing but human-powered conveyances should be allowed in the parks. Enough of this nonsense.
Big problem with “should be allowed,” unfortunately, is that so far, no one is going to make it happen.
Glad NYPD is finally trying to enforce the laws against these illegal mopeds
Call for a truck and confiscate the bike – Then take your time letting it work it’s way through the system – That’s a deterrent.
Why not have police at all park entrances? We have a whole police precinct in Central Park. It would be easy for police to prevent mopeds from coming in. There aren’t even that many entrances to man.
Is it cost effective to pay to tie up 50 officers, one at each entrance, to stop vehicles in the park? I have to think there are more important things they could be doing. And how much would that cost? 50 times a day’s salary times 365?
Cost effective vs preventing injuries-or death-to pedestrians? Public safety is the first responsibility of government.
How do you plan to finance this? Money does not grow on trees around here. What gets cut to pay for this?
I don’t disagree with your suggestions but wish lists without financing sources or a willingness to pay more taxes do not help.
I just did a quick google search and there are approximately 50 pedestrian entrances to Central Park (this does not include car entrances). Ive seen mopeds and electric bikes entering the park through pedestrian entrances, so any thought of limiting police presence at vehicle entrances is short sighted.
I am going to guess that the Central Park Precinct does not have enough officers during any shift to cover every entrance to the Park.
I think that’s a brilliant idea and actually could be an effective enforcement policy that would disallow any mopeds, motorcycles, e-bikes, etc. from even entering the park.
I agree with this suggestion.
Thank you, NYPD, for working to keep the motorcycles out of Central Park. High speed vehicles are very dangerous in the park, especially at a crowded time like 4pm on a Friday in May.
So many people assume the worst about police officers and treat them with a lot of disrespect. Yes, there are some bad apples (the world is not black and white). But the majority of them are good people putting their lives on the line to keep us safe.
It is a sad reminder that if even uniformed police cannot control these cyclists, what chance do pedestrians have to escape harm? Sadly, it is too late to put the genie back in the bottle. Thanks, NYC government, for ignoring our safety.
I don’t think the NYC government should be blamed for this. What have they done contrary to what we voted for?
They don’t chase them. In Europe they do -;and ram them off their bikes. I recall a few years ago a NYC policeman did that uptown – it was on video – and the guy’s mother and a lot of people were yelling abuse – the guy also had a record!
They allowed e-bikes which opened the floodgates to mopeds and illegal cycles of all sizes. We did not have this problem before the pandemic.
In no way does allowing e-bikes somehow also allow mopeds & dirt bikes. There is existing classification of class 1 – class 3 e-bikes, those dirt bikes are illegal and mopeds have to be registered/licensed. NYPD has just chosen not to enforce the laws on the books.
Then how do you explain the explosion of the illegal motorized bikes on NYC streets, endangering pedestrians? The simple fact is that NYC government did not think through the situation and the NYPD is now overwhelmed, and ignoring the problem is their solution. A solution for cyclists; not for pedestrians or automobiles.
The explosion is because NYPD has not bothered to enforce any traffic laws – if they never gave up enforcing the problem would not be as big today. Same reason there’s been a huge increase in illegal parking and paper license plates.
this is not just a problem in the park. This weekend I crossed the Queensboro Bridge on foot, where pedestrians share a very narrow 2-way path with speeding bicyclists. As if that’s not stressful enough, I counted at least 10 motorcycles/scooters zooming by. I wish cops were stationed at both ends ticketing them.
I think you meant to write *seizing the bikes*
Good Humor,
They have done nothing to manage the reckless upsurge of motorized uses and motor scooters. And even if they arrest them NOTHING happens. They leave with a slap on the wrist.
All motorized vehicles must be licensed and registered. If not this will continue to happen. There does not seem to be an appetite for licensing because it is viewed as discrimatory.
Enough already!
Thank you for the thoughtful comment. My guess is that it won’t alter voting patterns.
I really wish people would stop saving ‘vote different’ as if republicans have some secret fix to these problems.
The fact is, these dirt bikes / mopeds are already illegal or need to be licensed, our disaster of a mayor is a former republican and cop who ran on increasing public safety & there is still no NYPD enforcement.
Well first make announcements. in all the papers and put up signs. There is no excuse . There are lots of policeman in NYC— How do i know? Because for days they lined up during the UN and while presidents were in town . That means there are lots of them.. Get some trucks in the park — sit there – put signs up “no motorcycles allowed ‘ You need to start bigger — sorry he got hurt! But it shows how ruthless these motorcycles and bikes are even in the sidewalks. Just ban the motor bikes .. Put BIG signs no motorcycles in the park and none in the BIKE LANES.. They are in the bike lanes as well!!!! You can’t make a onetime effort! They need to know you mean business.. Post the signs and put the bikes in a POUND… We do it with cars parked illegally … Get the bike and make them pay to get them back.. This is basic psychology .. No consequences : no changed behavior …
Motorcycles and bikes are not ruthless, their drivers are.
Do you also say, “Guns don’t kill anyone, people do” by way of saying “no gun control”?
so sorry this happened to an officer doing his job. the ebikes, eskooters and motorcycles in central park and riverside park are dangerous if not annoying. smoking in the parks is also prevalent. there is no law enforcement!!!!!!
Lots of people asking for police and law enforcement. That’s not happening. These are nonviolent misdemeanors and the DA isn’t prosecuting these cases. NYC has ‘reimagined’ public safety. Raise the age, end mass incarceration, close Rikers etc. The NYPD is shrinking. This is what people voted for. Enjoy the summer.
What are you talking about? Our DA just got someone convicted of 34 non-violent crimes in one go….
The only reason I voted for DeBlassio was because he said he would ban horses from the park. He not only reneged on that promise but made it worse by allowing peticabs. Now of course it’s orders of magnitude worse with motorized vehicles careening all over the city.
Thank you to the officer who was doing their job and trying to help keep people other visiting the park safe. I’m sorry you were injured and hope you recover quickly physically and mentally.
I totally agree with the other commenter who suggested stationing officers at the entrances. We really need to crack down on this. I’ve had so many close calls individually and with my kids. It’s so scary! I’m glad to see someone was trying to enforce the laws and am so sad and angry to hear they were assaulted for doing their job. I think we need more officers tackling this all at once.
These hooligans have been terrorizing our streets for years, long before the pandemic. Reckless packs of 10, 20, 30 bikers dangerously rip through the neighborhoods on their ear-splitting machines every weekend through the summer months. I’ve never once seen any evidence of law enforcement attempting to intercept these rampages. There needs to be a concerted effort to crack down on these antisocial idiots and confiscate their bikes. Hope the officer is okay.
Welp, this could’ve been avoided had NYPD started IMPOUNDING UNREGISTERED MOTORCYLES AND MOPEDS years ago when they cropped up. Too much laxity, now it’s impossible to put the genie back in the bottle.
It’s never too late to start impounding illegal mopeds.
A few years ago, I was walking up Amsterdam in the mid-west-70’s and a guy was turning a motor scooter into the bike lane. I turned to him and said, “ That’s not a bicycle.” He reached into his pants and told me he was going to shoot me. I apologized profusely, unarmed, and fearing for my life. I flagged down a police car as soon as he left, but the rider was long gone. A couple of days ago, a motorcyclist was brazenly flying down the ”boardwalk” in Riverside Park. This is commonplace now. We have to crack down on this hard. It’s just insane. Kudos to the officer for doing his job with courage. I wish him a speedy recovery and swift justice against these perpetrators.
Maybe we should have a horse mounted police unit outfitted with lances and shields waiting for these illegal motorized two wheelers to come down the path. Charge at them and knock them off of the scooters.
That’s not a motorcycle, it’s a scooter, and the drivers are mostly reckless and violate traffic laws. Our sidewalks, parks, and streets are so dangerous now. They need to be licensed, or confiscated.
I know it wouldn’t stop motorcycles, but it amazes me that there isn’t really any blockades at the various vehicular entrances around Central Park. Especially after the 2017 attack on The Greenway. Anyone can drive into the park if they want to. Boggles the noodle.