Now Orlando has a wheelie boy problem

I saw 3 YZs and a quad on the Expressway on the way home from Orlando MX on sunday

‘Orlando Takeover’ frustrating drivers
Daredevils on ATVs, motorcycles raising ire on area roads
By Stephen Hudak Orlando Sentinel
A horde of daredevils on motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles, popping high-speed wheelies and ignoring traffic laws, swarmed Central Florida roadways last weekend as part of a loosely organized event dubbed by some as “Orlando Takeover 2019.”
The rumbling entourage frightened motorists and prompted law enforcement to track them using an Orange County Sheriff’s Office helicopter known to authorities as “Chase.”
“I don’t scare easily because I work in a middle school,” said Diane Gail Carter, 59, who was on her way to church Saturday when her Prius was suddenly surrounded by the motoring mob south of Orlando. “It was like being in the middle of a cattle drive.”
The motorized rabble has been an ongoing problem in the Orlando area for several months, according to postings on social media sites, including Facebook and change.org, where some frustrated residents are wondering how to stop it.
“Guess we all need to start carrying stopsticks like police carry to stop these dorks,” said one Facebook post.
Another suggested plowing a truck into them.
The pack engulfed an Orange County deputy sheriff Sunday, snapping off the patrol car’s side mirror and causing other damage to the vehicle.
Deputies couldn’t chase the ATVs and street bikes when they sped off because of agency pursuit policies drafted to limit high-speed motor-vehicle crashes, which often imperil pedestrians and law-abiding motorists.
Instead, deputies radioed descriptions to the chopper, which shot video footage of the alleged offenders.
Several riders were arrested and their vehicles confiscated. ATVs are not street legal in Florida.
“OCSO is aware of the dangers illegal Motorcycle/ATV activity poses to the public,” the Sheriff’s Office said on its Twitter account in a tweet featuring helicopter footage that included a wreck. “This behavior will not be tolerated...”
In an email to Orlando-area media, the Sheriff’s Office insisted it was putting “our utmost effort towards minimizing it.”
“Please note Orange County is not immune to this activity as it is nationwide problem,” the email read. “Due to the type of vehicles operated by these individuals, it is easier for them to flee and elude our apprehension efforts and thus making it difficult to identify the driver. Our deputies, along with other law enforcement agencies, work diligently to stop this illegal activity which puts the public in imminent danger.”
The Sheriff’s Office, alerted to the weekend meet-up by chatter on social-media channels, also turned to social media to show risks posed by the allegedly lawless riders who run red lights, veer in and out of traffic and perform stunts in a pack.
“The video we have released on our social media platforms shows an example of the dangerous situations we are encountering. The video depicts various ATV/Motorcycle riders traveling at a high-rate of speed on the Turnpike and making an illegal U-turn that resulted in a car being forced off the roadway after that motorist was clipped.”
No serious injuries were reported.
Other videos shot by bikers themselves with helmet-mounted cameras show daring tricks and stunts on city streets, State Road 417 and Florida’s Turnpike.
Mike Greene, a retired New York City police detective and a resident of the Conway area since 2012, launched a petition on change.org calling on new Orange County Sheriff John Mina to stop the “intimidating & lawless bikers.”
More than 1,000 people have signed it.
“On a daily, recurring and growing basis, for at least the past year, roving groups of up to 50 or more motorcyclists and ATV riders have been roaming the streets of Orange County, Florida, breaking countless traffic laws, intimidating other motorists, creating hazardous conditions,” the petition states. “They run red lights, they make illegal turns, they perform stunts on roadways with other motorists around them, they physically block other motorists, they threaten other motorists, etc.”
Greene said the rolling herd is growing in numbers and boldness.
“It started out with just a few of them about a year ago,” he said. “I’ve watched it grow to 50 or more.”
Greene said riders back then annoyed fellow motorists by revving engines or snaking in and out of traffic, but the larger groups literally take over the whole roadway — not only all travel lanes but shoulders and berms, too.
In an arrest report, deputy Jeffrey Brown said his patrol car was surrounded about 4:30 p.m. Saturday by a group of riders on all types of motorcycles and ATVs in southeast Orange County, some of whom pulled in his path and throttled down.
“I had to take evasive action and run off the road to avoid some of them who kept trying to slow me down and pull in front of me,” he wrote in his report of the incident near Curry Ford and Goldenrod roads.
The incident led to the arrest of Jose Miguel Maya, 23, of Miami, who was charged with fleeing and eluding a law-enforcement officer, reckless driving and driving without a license.
“He along with other riders attempted to force me off the road and placed not only myself but others to include them at risk of death or serious injury,” Brown wrote in his report.
The report alleges Maya’s ATV struck the deputy’s patrol car then raced off when the deputy activated the sheriff’s vehicle flashing lights and siren.
It’s a perilous situation, according to Greene.
“This is a tinder box that is smoking,” he said. “Some residents have already stated how these lawless people need to be ‘taken out.’ It’s a matter of time before an innocent person or someone in these groups is injured or killed.”
Among the ATV riders arrested Saturday was Riclais Caneus, 32, of Orlando, who was charged with felony fleeing from a traffic stop.
Deputies impounded his ATV and the report said it would be forfeited “due to the vehicle being used in the commission of a felony.”
According to the arrest report, the sheriff’s helicopter followed the ATV from overhead until it stopped under a canopy of trees on 24th Street.
“I had nothing to do with the ride out,” Caneus said in a phone interview with the Orlando Sentinel. “I was just at the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Stephen Hudak can be reached by phone at 407-650-6361, by email at shudak@orlandosentinel.com or via Twitter @Bearlando.