S. Florida cops: No MLK Day traffic stunts

Agencies will all adhere to “zero tolerance policy,” officials say

MIAMI — It began four years ago when hundreds of riders on ATVs, dirt bikes and motorcycles flooded South Florida’s streets popping wheelies on busy highways, driving the wrong way down roads and clogging and racing down residential side streets.

They called it a peaceful but rowdy protest initially honoring the still unsolved death of a popular Philadelphia biker named Kyrell Tyler, known as “Dirt Bike Rell.” It’s since morphed into an anti-gun violence and civil rights demonstration timed to coincide with Martin Luther King Day, which is Monday.

For many police departments, it’s also become an annual traffic safety nightmare. During last year’s MLK holiday weekend, three riders — a motorcyclist, a dirt biker and an ATV rider — lost their lives. Nowc the #Bikesupgunsdown (aka Wheels up, Guns Down) movement has been put on notice by South Florida law enforcement: We’re watching and you will pay for breaking the law.

“Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a great orator, a great leader. His legacy during the holiday should be remembered with great respect,” Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel said. “But there is a zero tolerance policy for this illegal activity. The most important thing we can do is keep Broward County a safe place.”

Riding a motorcycle isn’t illegal. Popping wheelies or driving the wrong way down the road is. As for ATVs, they’re illegal on any paved roadway. Even driving offroad vehicles at a reasonable speed on the roadways during or after the parade could result in a citation, police say.

In the past, bikers involved in the annual event have argued that the rowdy ride is intended to send a positive anti-violence message, but it’s the death-defying highspeed stunts caught on video that have gotten most of the publicity.

Miami writer and rapper Luther Campbell, who recently bought a small scooter for his own young son, Blake, said he supports the goal of raising awareness about the toll guns take on the community. “I think it’s a great intention, anything to get the guns off the streets,” he said. “But there are always going to be some knuckleheads that are going to make it bad for everyone else. You need to take something like that, that may have some issues and make it a good event.”

Campbell, who won a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision over free speech based on his raunchy song lyrics and shows, also said if communities offered more safe, off-road spaces for bikers to display their skills, the zero-tolerance policy police say they will enforce would be more effective.

During a series of press conferences this week, police explained the dangers of riding motorcycles and ATVs and supplied numbers they said supported their case. Miami-Dade Lt. Juan Villalba Jr. said in the past year seven people were killed in more than 1,100 ATV and motorcycle crashes in MiamiDade. He did not say how many of those were associated with the MLK event.

“The hardest part of our job is knocking on the families doors and explaining to them that they just lost their loved one,” said Miami-Dade traffic homicide detective Jeffrey Childers. “We don’t want to do that.”