Hundreds of illegal dirt bikes and ATVs take over road in Irondequoit

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Summer is here, and so is the problem of dirt bikes and ATVs taking over city streets and county roads.

News10NBC’s Patrick Moussignac talked to an Irondequoit woman who says her family feared for their safety when more than 100 bikers hit King’s Highway recently. 

Amy Condello who sent News10NBC a video of bikers as they passed her vehicle. She says she feared for her life.

“Literally we’re going like five miles an hour,” says Condello. “So when you watch that video we’re going, creeping along.”

What was supposed to be a quiet drive along King’s Highway in Irondequoit for ice cream turned into this: Over 100 dirt bikes and ATV riders taking over the roadway. Condello describes what her family went through.

“The bikers were coming at us. They’re yelling at us. They’re swearing at us. They’re pulling in front of us. They’re doing wheelies in front of us. They were completely in our lane. We had to, like, stop, ” she explains.

The experience left her quite shaken.

“That’s sad that’s what we’re dealing with right now and this problem seems to be getting bigger, and nothing seems to be done about it,” says Condello. “So yeah, it was scary because you feel like you’re kind of on your own and you’re not getting any support from law enforcement.”

News10NBC took her concerns to Irondequoit Town Supervisor Rory Fitzpatrick. He says the town is taking action.

“We signed a special detail to it,” says Fitzpatrick. “We just bought some vehicles to help combat this, but as you can see in that video the number of riders is overwhelming. You know we’re going to be looking for support from other agencies to help deter this.”

Irondequoit Police changed one of their policies to go after these bikers.

“I recently changed our general orders to allow our police officers to at least start to pursue of these vehicles. We have before, they weren’t even allowed to initiate a pursuit. We’ve changed that,” says Irondequoit Police Chief Scott Peters.

Peters also says bikes will be confiscated if the rider stopped by police cannot provide proof of ownership.