Boy, 7, arrested for riding dirt bike on sidewalk

[alexthekidd]

BALTIMORE - Police arrested a 7-year-old boy, handcuffed him and hauled him down to the station house on a charge of riding a motorized dirt bike on a sidewalk.

Then, according to his mother, Gerard Mungo Jr. was handcuffed to a bench and interrogated before being released to his parents.

"They scared me," Gerard told The Baltimore Examiner before breaking down in tears.
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Mayor Sheila Dixon apologized Friday for the arrest, and Police Commissioner Leonard Hamm said it would be investigated internally.

The arrest came after an officer saw Gerard riding his dirt bike on the sidewalk in east Baltimore on Tuesday, police spokesman Matt Jablow said. Hamm, citing the internal probe, declined to discuss how the rest of the incident unfolded.

Kikisa Dinkins said her son was sitting on the bike with the motor off on the sidewalk when an officer grabbed him by the collar and pulled him off.

"I told them to let go of my baby," Dinkins said. "Since when do you pull a 7-year-old child by his neck and drag him?"

Dinkins said she called for a police supervisor to intervene, but the confrontation continued to escalate after the supervisor arrived.

"They started yelling at him, 'Do you know what you did is wrong, son?'" Dinkins said. "He was so scared he ran upstairs."

Police arrested Gerard and confiscated the bike.

Dinkins said officers fingerprinted him and took his mug shot. Hamm could not confirm that and said those actions would not have been normal procedure in a non-felony case.

‘He’ll never be the same’
Dinkins said the arrest scarred her son. "This has changed his life," she said. "He'll never be the same."

The Police Department's zero-tolerance arrest policy — begun under former Mayor Martin O'Malley, who is now Maryland's governor — has drawn complaints that such arrests occur most often in poor, black neighborhoods. Gerard is black.

Hamm said the officer had the option of talking with a parent or confiscating the bike. He said that although the city is concerned about nuisance dirt bikes, the arrest "was not consistent with my philosophy of trying to solve problems in the neighborhoods."

The mayor, who appeared Friday with Hamm, said she also planned to look into the case.

"It is clear to me that the arrest was wrong, that the officers on the scene should not have arrested the child, and on behalf of the City of Baltimore I apologize to the boy and his parents," Dixon said.

[scumdog]

Little bastard probably deserved it, the bike's probably stolen too.

[JimO]

i heard he had been stealing bikes since he was 5

[Bonez]

Would it have been different if it was a unmotorised dirt bike question mark, question mark

[sunhuntin]

hell, if hes scarred for life, chances are hell be a fine, upstanding citizen! be too scared to break the law again!

[thehollowmen]

And where were the parents during all of this?

Gah, why are all the stupid people breeding?

[BUNGY]

The Police Department's zero-tolerance arrest policy — begun under former Mayor Martin O'Malley, who is now Maryland's governor — has drawn complaints that such arrests occur most often in poor, black neighborhoods. Gerard is black.

We need this type of thing in New Zealand. Sort the little buggers out while their young.

[Waylander]

hell, if hes scarred for life, chances are hell be a fine, upstanding citizen! be too scared to break the law again!

Sitting on the bike on the sidewalk with the motor off is against the law?

So when my cousin back home washes his bike on the front sidewalk he can be arrested too?

[sunhuntin]

pushbikes on sidewalks are against the law too. so are skateboards. [not sure about over there!]

and waylander...possibly your cousin could, for interrupting the flow of foot traffic. was reading a book [autobiography] a guy nearly got arrested for hosing down the front of his house, creating a hazard.

and hey...if it stops the kid becomming another black statistic, all the better right?

[Waylander]

pushbikes on sidewalks are against the law too. so are skateboards. [not sure about over there!]

and waylander...possibly your cousin could, for interrupting the flow of foot traffic. was reading a book [autobiography] a guy nearly got arrested for hosing down the front of his house, creating a hazard.

and hey...if it stops the kid becomming another black statistic, all the better right?

Fuck that. I rode my pushbike on the sidewalk all the time. Kept me from being run over by asshole cagers. Never had a problem. Granted I'm white so that may be why.

And more than likely the kid will grow up hating the cops and never develop a respect for the law due to this incident and his parrents talking bad about the police and shit. So he'll just be much much worse. than he would have been otherwise.

[sunhuntin]

Fuck that. I rode my pushbike on the sidewalk all the time. Kept me from being run over by asshole cagers. Never had a problem. Granted I'm white so that may be why.

And more than likely the kid will grow up hating the cops and never develop a respect for the law due to this incident and his parrents talking bad about the police and shit. So he'll just be much much worse. than he would have been otherwise.

true that. im pretty sure a shake up like this would have stopped my "brother" in his tracks. i think the kids reaction will be a mix, and not put down to one or two things. like, for example: divorced parents. one puts the other down in front of the kids constantly. chances are, the kids will realise who the good parent is, and it wont be that one!

i rode my bike on the road once i graduated to two wheels, and only got hit once, which was my own stupid fault.

[scumdog]

Fuck that. I rode my pushbike on the sidewalk all the time. Kept me from being run over by asshole cagers. Never had a problem. Granted I'm white so that may be why.

And more than likely the kid will grow up hating the cops and never develop a respect for the law due to this incident and his parrents talking bad about the police and shit. So he'll just be much much worse. than he would have been otherwise.

But with a bit of luck he won't ride on the footpath anymore....

[Waylander]

But with a bit of luck he won't ride on the footpath anymore....

Yea, stealing, rape and murder are perfectly fine so long as he keeps off the sidewalk......

[scumdog]

Sitting on the bike on the sidewalk with the motor off is against the law??

Like standing on the footpath with an empty gun's against the law too...

The engine wasn't always turned off and the gun wasn't always empty.

[judecatmad]

pushbikes on sidewalks are against the law too. so are skateboards.

So a 7 year old child is supposed to ride on the roads instead of the pavements? Might be OK for quiet rural areas, but not for busy urban streets (I'm assuming this was in a busy town/city area..I could be wrong).

I could understand arresting the wee tyke if he'd been actually riding a dirt bike along the pavement - motorised bikes should definitely only be used on dirt tracks or the road. But, according to the report, he was just sitting on it with the engine off...????

As for riding pushbikes only on the road, until you have a good enough understanding of traffic and the consequences of it hitting you, you should be fully entitled to ride on the pavement.