On a Sunday evening in July, roughly 200 dirt bikes, ATVs, UTVs, mopeds and motorcycles rolled onto the Berlin Turnpike in Newington, Connecticut. Not all of them stayed on it. According to the Newington Police Department, several riders left the road and crossed the grass and property of nearby businesses, including CT Beverage Mart and Savers, cutting through the stores’ driveway entrances and exits along the way.
Eleven weeks later, police say they have arrested 18 people. The department’s charge listing accuses 15 of them of “Breach of Peach.”
Connecticut has no such crime. The statute number printed beside it, 53a-181, is the state’s breach of peace law. The fruit version appears in all 15 entries that carry the charge.
What police say happened
The department laid out its account in a news release posted Sept. 28 to its official Facebook page. It starts at about 5:50 p.m. on July 12, when neighboring law enforcement agencies warned Newington that a large group of riders was heading toward town from the Hartford area.
Investigators say the group rolled into the intersection of the Berlin Turnpike and Prospect Street, where riders did wheelies, ignored traffic signals and planted themselves in spots that kept other drivers from getting through. Northbound Turnpike traffic backed up. Drivers heading east on East Robbins Avenue were stuck too, police say, because members of the group had taken over the intersection.
From there, according to the release, the group headed south on the Turnpike with riders still performing stunts. That’s when the detour across the business properties happened. Police also say several riders traveled south in the northbound lanes, against oncoming traffic.
One driver caught in the middle told investigators he had been “engulfed by the group,” the department says. He reported that his vehicle was nearly struck repeatedly and that he saw multiple near-miss crashes involving riders.
Officers who tried to make traffic stops that evening didn’t get far. The release says the group ignored them and fled.
Eighteen arrests, one of them from Newington
All 18 people on the department’s list give Connecticut hometowns: Hartford, New Britain, Bloomfield, Naugatuck, Plainville, Glastonbury, Wethersfield, Manchester, Norwich, Bridgeport and, in one case, Newington itself. The youngest is 19. The oldest is 48. Six are 35 or older.
The department says the people identified so far come from Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, though no one from the latter two states is among the 18. Police say additional arrest warrants have been granted and call further arrests “imminent.”
According to the charge listing:
- All 18 face a street takeover count and reckless driving.
- 15 are also charged with second-degree reckless endangerment and breach of peace.
- 10 are charged under Section 14-390m, listed as “Use ATV on Public Property.”
- Two are charged with operating under suspension, and the 19-year-old with driving without a license.
- One, a 38-year-old Glastonbury woman, is also charged with engaging police in pursuit.
Bonds range from $1,500 to $5,000, and court dates on the listing run from Oct. 1 to Oct. 8. The charges are allegations; none of the 18 has been convicted.
The statute on the charge sheet
The fruit isn’t the only detail worth a second look. Every street takeover count on the listing cites Section 14-224(c)(2)(D). In Connecticut law, that subparagraph doesn’t cover driving in a takeover. It makes it a crime to “knowingly incite or recruit” people in advance to take part in one, “including, but not limited to, electronic or social media.”
Actually operating a vehicle in a street takeover falls under a different subdivision, (c)(1), and is a class A misdemeanor for a first offense. The recruiting provision is a class B misdemeanor. The state defines a street takeover as blocking or impeding traffic on a public road or parking area “with intent to cause disorder or create a nuisance.”
The release doesn’t describe any recruiting, and it doesn’t explain how investigators identified riders who, by the department’s own account, fled that night. Whether the (c)(2)(D) citation reflects evidence police haven’t made public or is simply how the department logged the charge, the document doesn’t say.
The ATV count has its own wrinkle. Section 14-390m lets towns regulate dirt bikes and mini-motorcycles on public property through local ordinances, with fines of up to $1,000 for a first violation. In municipalities of 20,000 or more people, those ordinances can also allow the town to seize the bike. The release doesn’t say whether any vehicles have been taken.
Part of a wider crackdown
Newington isn’t the only place trying to make takeover cases stick. Los Angeles cited 442 people just for watching one, Suffolk County, New York, ran the numbers on what a single takeover costs, and South Carolina’s new law goes after the vehicles themselves, the same question Newington’s ATV count raises.
Eighteen arrests in, the most memorable charge on Newington’s sheet is one Connecticut never wrote.
Should police be able to seize the dirt bikes and ATVs used in a street takeover, even when the arrests come months later?