Confiscated E-bikes (Photo: 114th Twitter)
Jan. 30, 2019 By Meghan Sackman
The 114th Precinct has confiscated 11 e-bikes in the past week as part of a sting to get the illegal vehicles off the streets.
The e-bikes were taken while riders were making food deliveries, with some of the bikes owned by the restaurants and others their employees.
The 114th Precinct, which covers the greater Astoria district, took to twitter saying, “We understand that deliveries have to be made, but this is not the way to do it. #EBikes are #Illegal.”
The confiscated bikes are currently being held at the Queens Property Office, located at 47-07 Pearson Place in Long Island City, and will be released to their owners once a ticket has been paid.
The cost of the ticket is likely to be in the vicinity of $100 to $500, according to Police Officer Carlos Chacon with the precinct.
“We do this initiative in response to complaints,” Chacon said. “We get a lot of complaints…about these vehicles being operated recklessly, in violation of traffic violations.”
E-Bikes remain illegal in New York City.
“As of now, you still cannot operate a non-human powered bicycle, whether that’s with an electrical motor or gas engine, within New York City,” Chacon said.
E-Bike Initiative, 11 Bikes seized. We understand that deliveries have to be made, but this is not the way to do it. #EBikes are #Illegal pic.twitter.com/2pPuOZZU2N
— NYPD 114th Precinct (@NYPD114Pct) January 29, 2019
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27 Comments
Cab/Taxi drivers way more dangerous and most of the real accidents cause by them. ..including hitting bikers or pedestrians ,they stop wherever/whenever and cut drivers off constantly if they see a potential customer without even using turn signal..a bike CANNOT not do much damage on a car on ANY other vehicle and if people cant see or hear the bikes that’s not the biker’s fault.
There are few reckless bikers but not more then cars or drunk or DUI drivers ..or messengers on bicycles…
Good of them !! they don’t obey the VTL laws drive up the wrong way . Road rage that most of them have if u don’t yield to them. Take em all lock em all up!!
Good take all them bikes away they don’t obey the rules of the road . How can the cops give a summons to someone with phony id?? cut em lose they aint showing up for the fine!! to do it all over again.
take these bikes off the streets i feel like i am in another country they ride around with no respect and have of them are more like illegal aliems so get rid of them go back to the old ways a car or a bicycle
Yes they need to come to Jackson Heights to 115 precinct and remove those E bikes off the streets
They should confiscate all of those illegally parked cop cars on the sidewalk blocking bike paths, pedestrian traffic and driving lanes. They may be more of a public hazard.
About time the useless 114th precinct are doing something about these wreckless bikes. These deliverymen on these scooters are extremely dangerous, they blow red lights, run stop signs, cut people off constantly, ride up one way streets, many have no lights, they come dangerously close to cars and cause a multitude of other traffic issues & break many more laws. I have been involved with so many near-misses with these guys and they really make driving around here much more dangerous than it already is. I have to look in my mirrors twice whenever I turn to make sure I don’t hit them while I’m turning. You can’t even hear the electric powered ones when they’re coming down the block. Good luck catching them if they do something to you too. There is no way of identifying delivery scooters/mopeds or who is on them. They should be required to follow the same rules as motorcycles, end of story. Don’t know why everyone here who is against these bikes like I am is getting downliked so hard. Must be the people who just moved in around here who love ordering out everynight. Go back to whatever hole you came from and stop ruining our neighborhood, scumbags.
You have to look twice to make sure you aren’t running someone over? How dare they inconvenience you!
The police park their personal and professional cars on the sidewalk . They drive passed all the double parked cars on Steinway , but these people get busted . Total hypocrisy .
Take some of the money that Deblasio is wasting and build the 114 a multi level parking structure and get those cars off the street. When it last snowed, I saw a mother trying to cross the street with her newborn baby carriage and a care was blocking the entire crosswalk and she had to stand in the middle of the service road until cars passed. What a disgrace.
Looks like mopeds to me. Not ebikes.
I do know someone who was hit on the sidewalk in Astoria by a delivery man. She broke some bones in her face in the accident. The driver was not caught. So yes it is a serious hazard so I am glad to see action taken. Thank you NYPD. Of course we need food deliveries but we also need safety and sensible laws enforced. We can have both. Basic standards like a bicycle light, helmet, observe traffic laws ( red lights, signals etc. ).
LET FREEDOM RING…. LIFE LIBERTY AND THE PERSUIT OF HAPPINESS. What a joke. Arrest anyone being reckless and ignoring traffic rules, but confiscating people’s property and interfereing with people’s ability to earn a living is abhorrent.
Notice, that non of the bikes have NY plates. What if owners register the bike and get a NY plate, would that make them legal ?
I feel bad for the delivery workers. At the same time, I have been nearly run over on the side walk, and it was only a matter of time before something awful happened to someone. It’s dangerous for the drivers and pedestrians. Maybe we all need to think of how our food is being delivered. A bicycle in this weather is pretty rough. Not sure what the solutions may be.
Traffic laws pertain to everyone else but the street gang in blue. No one respects these thugs… they probably don’t event respect themselves.
Aww did they steal from you or make you feel belittled infront of someone you know hahaha are you mad that they do things you can’t?
About time NYPD did something for everyones safety. Thank you.
yeah, but now i gotta cook… and there is no damn trader joes in astoria (from one Joe to another T. Joe, hope your listening)!
Officer Chacon is not quite right, you are legally allowed to ride an e-bike that operates in pedal assist mode where the motor just helps you to pedal. The confiscated e-bikes operate like a motorcycle where you twist the throttle and take off.
These bikes are constantly being ridden recklessly. Thank you to the officers of the 114 Precinct for getting some of them off the street, you probably saved someone from injury.
IMO it’s pretty easy to not get hit by an eBike in Astoria if you maintain even a little awareness of your surroundings. The food bringers are sacred and if you call the pigs on one you’re a dangerous heretic.
@Clyde
I’m assuming that you do not drive a car. These delivery guys are constantly darting in and out, going the wrong way down one way streets, etc. It’s dangerous for everyone around them, mostly themselves. They often have no lights on, and I’ve almost hit one numerous times because they literally come out of nowhere.
I have been nearly hit on the sidewalk. I’ve seen small children nearly run over on the sidewalk. They routinely go the wrong way down streets, and with the cars parked on the curb, are virtually impossible for drivers to see.
No doubt the drivers are under a lot of pressure from their employer to deliver fast or they probably get fired, and that has a lot to do with the recklessness. Thanks to the precinct for doing something about it before someone gets killed over a chicken parm or whatever.
What took them so long? Been asking useless Costa to do something about this for years…
“non-human powered bicycle” are disallowed in NYC.. LOL
Must follow the laws of the PRNY (Peoples Republic of New York) or risk getting thrown in the Gulag!
That said, these guys are nuts when they drive. They should be allowed and be required to follow the same as motorcycles.
You got to have pedals, these delivery folks should just buy vehicles with pedals. Gas powered bicycles (yes they do have pedals) have a range 80-100 miles per tank, those should be good alternative 🙂
Does that mean my dog can’t pull me on my bike?