Minibiker leads cops on city-wide joyride
‘Midget motorcycle’ pilot ends night in jail after getting kick out of low-speed pursuit
WOONSOCKET — They’re called mini-motos or pocket-bikes – and no, you can’t ride one on a public right of way.
That’s what Patrolman Gregory Klocek wanted to tell 28-year-old Jaime Perez Rivera when the officer saw him riding one of the midget motorcycles on a Cumberland Street sidewalk shortly after 7 p.m. Thursday.
Klocek ordered Rivera to stop, but Rivera had other ideas.
Rivera allegedly led Klocek on what would normally be called a chase – and a winding, zig-zagger at that – except that it never got above 15 miles an hour or so.
“I’m not sure his intent was to honestly get away,” said Lt. Tom Calouro of the Traffic Bureau. “That thing goes – what – maybe 20 miles an hour?”
But Rivera seemed to be having a good time as the police followed him along the tarmac and sidewalks of Gaulin Avenue, Social Street, Diamond Hill Road and St. Leon Avenue as he headed for home in the Morin Heights Family Housing Development.
As Rivera maneuvered the toy-like twowheeler onto the main road to the housing complex, Rivera allegedly looked back at the police cruiser behind him, smiling and drawing audible laughter from onlookers.
As he made his way past the spectators, he swerved the gasoline-powered bike from one side of the road to the other.
Then police lost sight of the Rivera as he veered toward a patch of dense vegetation. Police found the abandoned minimoto in the shrubs and called for a tow, but Rivera was nowhere to be found.
Moments later, however, Rivera resurfaced – on foot and running – after removing his Tshirt and hat in an apparent attempt to complete his getaway by changing his appearance.
Police said they chased Rivera on foot until he entered an apartment at 176 Morin Heights
Blvd., passing several onlookers as they approached the entryway, including Rivera’s wife. Klocek said he ordered them to tell Rivera to come out, but they ignored him.
After waiting for backup, Klocek said officers entered the apartment and Rivera came out of hiding from behind a washing machine with his hands up.
But Klocek said Rivera struggled with him and kept yelling “it’s only a small bike” as the officer tried to handcuff the elusive cyclist. The officer said he used an “arm-bar technique” to pull Rivera to the ground, at which point he was taken into custody without further ado.
Rivera was taken to police headquarters, where he was booked on charges of reckless driving, obstructing police, resisting arrest and operating a motor vehicle on a suspended license. He was still smiling when police photographed his mugshot.