Dad may face charges after colliding with son

Extremely unfortunate...and one more reason I don't ride "informal" riding areas. I feel really bad for this guy, out for a ride and now has this to deal with.

Father offers crash defense

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By Susan Milton
STAFF WRITER
March 26, 2008

HYANNIS — A father may face charges after an investigation is completed into a collision between him and his young son, who were both riding dirt bikes at the Harwich landfill, according to an environmental police officer.

The boy, 12, suffered compound fractures in Saturday's crash at the capped landfill on Queen Anne Road and was airlifted to a Boston hospital.

The father, Steve Coyne of Dennis, said yesterday he and his son were practicing for Motocross races on two-wheeled dirt bikes — not ATVs as earlier reported — and acknowledged they may have been trespassing.

"It's the only place where we've been able to ride for years, and nobody ever bothered us," he said in an interview yesterday. "Motocross riding needs to be decriminalized."

The collision is under investigation by environmental police Officer Matt Bass and Harwich police Officer Aram Goshgarian, Bass said Monday.

Police are investigating potential charges of operating illegally in the area, age restrictions on using recreational vehicles such as ATVs and dirt bikes, the vehicles' registration status, and their removal from the accident scene, Bass said. Fines are $20 to $100 for most violations.

Coyne and his son collided before 7 p.m. Saturday, near where power lines and the town landfill meet. The boy suffered compound fractures to one leg. Coyne didn't require hospitalization.

When Coyne read about likely charges in a Times online story yesterday morning, he called the newspaper to "set the record straight," he said.

The vehicles were dirt bikes, weighing about 200 pounds, not 400-pound ATVs as the story reported, Coyne said. He and his son race Motocross, a form of motorcycle or ATV racing on designated tracks and trails. The nearest track is in Middleboro, he said.

"We race Motocross but we have no place to practice," said Coyne, a house painter who said he has lived on the Cape for 23 years. "I had just bought my son a new bike because he got all A's and B's."

At the time of the accident, his son was at the top of the landfill cap and "drove straight into my path head-on as I was in mid-air," Coyne said. "At the last second, I saved his life by tossing my bike away, but I think the bike tire hit him."

The hospital may release his son today, Coyne said, adding, "If I could do anything to take this back, I would."

Coyne said he was covered in blood at the crash scene after injuring his nose in the collision. He had a wrist X-rayed and suffered multiple bruises and torn or pulled ligaments, he said, adding, "I've had them before, I Motocross race."

He was at the town landfill with another son, a son's friend and "two total strangers," who helped after the accident. One called the rescue squad and one met police at the landfill gate to guide them.

"I don't even know their names," said Coyne, who stayed with his injured son. "They were not scumbags, as people are saying (on online discussion boards). All they did was help me and take the bikes away, putting them in my truck and staying with the little kids until the mother could come."

He said he urged the strangers to leave so that they wouldn't risk getting their bikes confiscated by the police.

"The real outrage is that there is no legal, safe place for us to ride," Coyne said. "Motocross is a sport. It's not an illegal activity. You can't go to the (legal) tracks all the time, because they are so far away. We are a struggling family, trying to make ends meet.

"The little guys want to ride, but there is no designated spots that are local. We have Otis Air Force Base. Why can't we get a little piece of that donated?"

Operation of either ATVs or dirt bikes on public or private property is illegal without permission of a landowner, Bass said.

Part of the landfill cap is fenced, but "unfortunately, they just drive around the fence," Harwich Highway Director Lincoln Hooper said. "We may have to look at fencing the rest of the area."

Hooper said he posted "no trespassing" signs a year or so ago, but doesn't know whether they are still there. Fences tend to get cut open and signs are torn down, Bass said.

Illegal riding is a problem across Cape Cod, Harwich police Lt. Thomas Gagnon said.

"Everyone has the same issues. I hear the surrounding towns are having the same problems we have," he said. "It's unfortunate because there isn't a legal place to ride."

Susan Milton can be reached at smilton@capecodonline.com.