ATVs prowl Detroit streets illegally, crashes on the rise

As Christian Hill chased a football toward Lakepointe Street on Detroit's east side, a dune buggy, racing a motorbike, slammed into him.

The impact sent the 8-year-old flying, leaving him with a broken leg and other injuries requiring a hospital visit.

"I woke up and saw the police and the ambulance," Christian recalled.

His aunt, Mary Jones, said she often sees young riders on minibikes, ATVs and other off-road vehicles speeding recklessly down city streets.

“It’s terrible in the summer," Jones said. "They’re just flying up and down the street.”

Off-road vehicles pose a growing problem, and with warmer weather approaching, both residents and police expect to see more of them on the streets. Most all-terrain vehicles are not street-legal and many riders are too young to get a driver's license, let alone a motorcycle endorsement that is granted after completing a safety course.

Records reviewed by the Free Press show at least 57 crashes involving off-road vehicles on city streets since 2004. Detroit's crash figures have increased each of the past three years, and last year alone, the city logged four deaths, more than the previous decade combined, according to police records.

The figures likely miss many other wrecks, which don't result in a formal crash report.

Off-road vehicle accidents are an issue statewide, the paper's analysis concluded.

The vehicles came under increased scrutiny last summer when Michigan State Police chased an ATV driven by 15-year-old Damon Grimes. A trooper deployed a Taser on Grimes, who then crashed and died from his injuries.

More: Trooper tases teen on ATV. Police video reveals what happens next.

More: Police video shows ATV crash in Detroit

“That’s been a big problem in that area with ATVs and engaging in reckless driving of ATVs in that neighborhood," Detroit Police Chief James Craig said earlier this month. “There were a number of complaints that the officers were aware of.”

Among the Detroit crashes reviewed:

In September 2016, an ATV passenger died after he fell off the machine and struck his head on the pavement near Prevost and Chalfonte.

In March 2015, two men riding ATVs near Annott and Sauer collided, then both slammed into cars, launching them from their machines. Both men were hospitalized, one received critical injuries.

In a July 2016 crash, an ATV rider blew a stop sign at Gray and Frankfort, hit a car and injured a 5-year-old passenger on the 4-wheeler. Neighbors took and hid the 4-wheeler before police arrived.

In a July 2013 crash near Holbrook and Brush, a 4-wheeler fleeing police lost control and struck a tree.

In September 2015, the driver of 4-wheeler was fleeing police near Eaton and Stoepel when he flipped over the handlebars. The crash report didn't detail his injuries.

Off-road vehicles are the latest iteration of a biker culture stretching back decades, said Fitzgerald Cooks, a life member of the Hell Raisers Motorcycle Club, who goes by his biker name, Top Shelf.

"It's a lifestyle," Cooks said. "The girls like the guy on the bike. They think he's the coolest cat on the block."

Numerous riders like to wear action cameras and post videos online chronicling their exploits. Some videos, like one titled "Detroit bikelife — Illegal bikes in the hood" have garnered more than 200,000 views. Riders can be seen popping wheelies in traffic, hanging on with one hand, standing on their seats and performing dance moves as they roll down the streets. Others have videoed themselves cruising sidewalks and even taunting police they encounter.

The Free Press tried unsuccessfully to contact several of the riders who posted videos.

A new three- or four-wheel machine can cost anywhere between $2,500 and $10,000, but used ones can be purchased from a salvage yard for a few hundred dollars and a couple hundred more in repairs can get them rolling again, Cooks said.

But just because they are rolling doesn't mean they are safe, Cooks said. Many of the riders forgo helmets and their machines often lack standard safety features.

"They were stopping them like the Flintstones, putting their feet down," Cooks said of a pair of teens on motorbikes he saw recently. Cook said he almost struck them with his truck when they darted out of the darkness of a side street near the intersection of Mound Road and Mount Elliott on a recent evening.

"They didn't have any headlights, no reflectors, you couldn't see them," Cooks said.

Some dirt bikes can be modified for legal street use. Most off-road vehicles, like 3- and 4-wheelers "cannot be modified and titled as an assembled vehicle for on-road use," according to the Michigan Secretary of State. Even those with lights, windshields, and street legal tires, don't qualify.

Police struggle to deal with them. Detroit Police do not to chase them for traffic offenses or when fleeing a misdemeanor because of the dangers of a crash on congested streets. But Michigan State Police took a different attitude while patrolling in Detroit last summer, when they chased Grimes. Shortly after Grimes died, State Police adopted a statewide chase policy similar to Detroit's.

When police do catch someone riding illegally, penalties can include civil infractions, misdemeanors and even felony charges. Detroit Police spokeswoman Holly Lowe said officers may impound the vehicles, especially when the rider isn't carrying proof of ownership.

"Every set of circumstances is different," she said.

The insurance industry treats ATVs differently as well.

"They are not insured in the same way a vehicle would be," said Lori Conarton of the Insurance Alliance of Michigan, an industry trade group. "For injuries that occurred when they get hit, it would be their auto policy or a relative's policy."

Conarton said if an ATV rider is injured and has no auto insurance policy at all, their medical bills will likely be paid by the Michigan Assigned Claims Plan, which is funded by the insurance companies. Those costs are passed on to consumers through their policy rates.

George Preston is president of the Mohican Regent Residents Association on Detroit's east side, where Grimes died. He said neighbors there have had concerns for years about ATVs, many of which are ridden by teens.

"'I'm looking at everybody doing right," Preston said. "Parents are going to have to educate their children."

DeShawn Hurt, president of the neighboring Regent Park Community Association said his first bad encounter with ATVs came two summers ago.

He heard a rumbling noise then saw about 40 ATVs taking over Gratiot, near East 7 Mile. The drivers popped wheelies as they ran rampant throughout the city and forced cars to move out of the way, he said.

Hurt said he also has taken complaints from residents, some of whom expressed concern about drivers riding reckless and plowing over lawns while others say the riders are ignoring traffic signs.

Hurt said the police decision to not chase most ATVs may have emboldened some criminals. He has seen people on the vehicles in alleys who appear to be selling drugs.

"I'm thinking that they're are on ATVs because they know they can't be pursued or they won't be pursued," Hurt said. "That's my guess."

Hurt said he doesn't mind kids riding ATVs but wants them to do it somewhere legal.

“I really just disapprove of them on the city streets, period,” Hurt told the Free Press. “If we could provide a safe haven for the kids to do it then let’s just do that.”

That idea has the support of Detroit City Councilman Scott Benson, who said his constituents not happy about aggressive driving through the neighborhoods. Benson wants a legal place to ride within the city limits.

“The issue has been where, what will the neighbors say and how do you get the vehicles there,” Benson said.

He has advocated for an area near East Outer Drive and Mound Road. Dorais Playground is there and already a haven for some riders like Jenna Blackburn, 31, who lives just north of 8 Mile in Warren.

She said she gets an adrenaline rush from riding and likes the concept of an ATV park for people from the city and the suburbs. Blackburn said she trailers her 4-wheeler into the park to ride about five times a week, never driving it on the streets like others.

"I think it’s dangerous," she said. "Especially the way they weave in between the cars and stuff like that.”

Mayor Mike Duggan is aware of concerns about how ATVs are often used in Detroit, spokesman John Roach said.

"Because this is a public safety issue, Chief Craig is taking the lead on this subject and is exploring whether it makes practical sense or not to create a formal ATV park," he said in an e-mail. "But at this time, there is no specific proposal.

On Detroit’s west side, Dan Davis turned a stretch of about 10 vacant lots near his home into a track for mini bikes, go-karts and ATVs, using a lawnmower and old tires.

He said the track, a neighborhood gathering spot that also hosts flag football games and cookouts, provides a place for adults and kids to ride safely.

“Everybody’s got to get out and have a little fun," Davis said. "And that’s what keeps people from doing other things on the streets."

Davis said he emphasizes safe riding practices to his fellow riders, especially children. Police officers haven’t hassled people riding at the track and there's no problem with accidents, he said.

Without such a place to ride elsewhere in the city, many riders use the streets, sometimes injuring themselves and others, and damaging vehicles and other property.



Crashes aren't limited to Detroit. State Police reports show off-road vehicles are involved in about 254 crashes a year, though those figures may include vehicles like snowmobiles and construction equipment, in addition to more typical ATVs. Statewide, off-road vehicle crashes have been hovering in the high 200s since 2013, according to agency records through 2016.

Hover over counties on the map to see per capita rate of off-road vehicle crashes:

Rural parts of Michigan have a higher rate of crashes, likely because of a smaller population base. Regardless of their location, the crashes are dangerous.

Dr. Trifun Dimitrijevski has treated injured ATV riders over the years and said many crash victims didn't wear helmets or other protective gear, drank alcohol before riding and used the vehicles inappropriately.

He said the vehicles are top heavy and prone to tipping over when turning quickly.

"When used inappropriately, they are very dangerous," said Dimitrijevski, who works in the emergency room at Detroit Receiving Hospital.

He saw the injuries, many suffered in rural areas, while working with an air ambulance service based in Ann Arbor. They ranged from road rash to fractured hands from falls, to head injuries suffered when the rider was thrown from the vehicle.

"All of the injuries we saw from ATVs were quite serious," Dimitrijevski said.

In Detroit, crash reports involving riders from both the city and the suburbs, show riders without helmets being thrown from ATVs and injuring their head, cracking a pelvis, or other injuries requiring ambulance trips to hospitals. The injured include children as young as 5, though most are young men.

The reports obtained from Michigan State Police and analyzed by the Free Press also show damage to cars and trucks. Some riders or their friends hide the ATVs before police arrive. Hit-and-run crashes are common. The rider who struck Christian Hill, then 8, fled after the June 2015 crash.

Christian, now 11, said the driver of the dune buggy that struck him wasn't paying attention and was looking backward before the crash. Christian said his injuries required him to wear casts for three months while his broken leg healed.

"They should have came back or stopped to make sure he was all right," said Tina Jones, another of Christian's aunts. "They never did even stop or come back."

In Jones' neighborhood, just blocks from where Grimes died, ATVs, dune buggies and motorbikes are common.

"I see them all the time," she said. "I think they shouldn't be on the street."

Contact John Wisely: 313-222-6825 or jwisely@freepress.com.

Contact Elisha Anderson: 313-222-5144 or eanderson@freepress.com.

Contact Ann Zaniewski: 313-222-6594 or azaniewski@freepress.com.