Any resident or regular visitor to Washington will know the city allows illegal all-terrain vehicles and dirt bike riders to maraud the streets of the nation’s capital. In plain sight, massed groups, mostly of young black men, blast up and down roads, popping wheelies, and otherwise endangering pedestrians and other road users. They are dangerous and disruptive. Unfortunately, the Metropolitan Police Department, the District of Columbia Council, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia are doing nothing about it. Innocent children are now paying the price.

As the MPD bulletin reports: “On Saturday, April 4, 2026, at approximately 6:52 p.m., Third District officers responded to the intersection of 14th Street and Chapin Street, Northwest, for the report of a crash. Officers discovered two juvenile males who were injured after being struck by a dirt bike operator as they rode an e-bike in the bike lane. D.C. Fire and EMS responded to the scene and transported one juvenile male unconscious to an area hospital for treatment of serious injuries. The second injured child was treated on scene for minor injuries. The preliminary investigation indicates that the dirt bike operator lifted the bike onto its back wheel just before the collision. The dirt bike operator fled the scene, continuing northbound on 14th Street with a large group of ATVs and dirt bikes.”