Albany Police investigating collision between police car, dirt bike
[anvplayer video=”5098974″ station=”998132″]
Albany police are investigating after a police car collided with a person driving what they say was an illegal dirt bike.
This took place Friday evening in the West Hill neighborhood.
According to Steve Smith, an Albany Police spokesman, the incident happened around 5:30 p.m. on Clinton Avenue. The circumstances of the crash are unclear at the moment.
The video of the incident was shared on social media. It shows a couple of people riding on dirt bikes in the street and on the sidewalk. One police car collides with the back of the dirt bike, causing the person who was riding it to fall to the ground.
Smith says that individual got on the back of another illegal dirt bike and fled the scene. NewsChannel 13 asked Smith if the crash accidental and were police trying to get the people on the dirt bikes to pull over. Smith wasn’t able to answer those questions, but says it remains under investigation.
He says no one was injured.
Law enforcement and city officials have expressed frustration with the illegal dirt bikes riding on Albany streets for a while.
"We have groups of individuals who recklessly and illegally have no regard for individuals in this community. They’re riding these motorbikes on sidewalks. They are not obeying the vehicle and traffic law, and they are putting residents at risk," said Smith.
We spoke to two men who did not want to be identified. They were riding with the individuals who were being followed by police. They say they stopped riding once they saw the cops. So they were not captured in the video. They acknowledged that the dirt bikes are illegal, but believe police could have handled things differently. They say police could have injured the dirt bike riders.