Five years ago while on assignment, I was riding with a police officer in Philadelphia’s Kensington section when we saw a large all-terrain vehicle (ATV) drive onto the sidewalk. A crowd watched as the rider performed a series of wheelies and tricks. The carnival atmosphere of the scene attracted an additional ATV rider intent on outperforming the first performer. The officer stepped out of the squad car and quietly told the drivers not to block the sidewalk. As the officer left the scene, I saw both ATVs merge with traffic, presumably to restart their wheelies and tricks.
The scene prompted more questions than answers: ATVs are illegal for street use, so why did the officer chide them only for driving onto the sidewalk? The officer told me that the Philadelphia Police Department had instructed its officers to go easy on ATV and dirt-bike riders because it was “a culturally sensitive issue.” The underlying message: officers should not take direct action because that might be deemed “racist.”
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