JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said 18 mini bike drivers were arrested over the weekend and accused of multiple crimes including street racing and reckless driving.
Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters said during a Thursday afternoon news conference that a large group of about 1,000 riders, mostly from out of state, flooded into Jacksonville to participate in a planned event dubbed “Grom Day 2.0.” Grom refers to a type of mini bike.
Waters said he personally witnessed one group of about a dozen riders attempting to hide their tags and when he tried to pull them over, they took off. Waters said when they fled, they were “popping wheelies, weaving in and out of traffic, just doing everything that they should not be doing on our roadways.”
Waters said the undersheriff, who was with him, then called in a JSO helicopter to chase them as the riders drove around the city for several hours where they continued to speed, run red lights and ignore traffic laws.
Video recorded by a News4JAX Insider last weekend shows multiple motorized mini bikes being pursued by JSO along with a helicopter above.
“Some may ask, why are we concerned about it? Well, it’s all illegal. You’re not supposed to do this. If you are going to operate a motorcycle on our roadways you have to obey traffic laws. And we’re fortunate enough that we didn’t have any fatalities over the weekend,” Waters said. “We’re not going to allow joy riders, we’re not gonna allow wheelie riders and when we catch them, we’re gonna do something about it.”
During the news conference, Waters showed traffic camera clips from around the city that showed huge groups of riders taking over roads.
JSO said it received 80 calls for service about the riders and eventually issued 72 citations and seized seven mini bikes.
The most dangerous charge, Waters said, was the alleged aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer.
Only two of the 18 people arrested were from Jacksonville. Others were from North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, New York and other states.
In 2021, News4JAX reported a similar meetup where a couple claimed a group of bikers attacked them at an intersection. JSO said the groups can be aggressive and dangerous.
“If you’ve never been to a traffic fatality, it’s horrible seeing and we don’t want that happening in our city,” Waters said.
JSO records show there were 39 deadly motorcycle crashes in 2022 and eight fatal ones so far in 2023.