On Sunday, a contingent of riders on motorcycles, dirt bikes and ATVs shut down traffic in both directions on Broadway in Washington Heights. The rally took place outside the Ortiz RG Funeral Home, not too far from the infamous location where a father was dragged out of his Range Rover and beaten several months ago by a crew of motorcyclists (which included undercover police officers) after he panicked and ran one of them over.
ANIMAL contacted Ortiz and although the funeral director was unavailable, the woman who answered the phone and identified herself as Anna, said they were showing support for a fellow rider who died. “The person who passed away was a member of the club,” she said. “He was a young man, 21-years-old.” The loud happenings were in tribute and according to her, didn’t last for more than a few minutes.
Here’s how the person who uploaded the footage to YouTube described the scene:
A motorcycle gang closes Broadway and intimidates the public on January 12, 2014, just two blocks from the police station house, and in the same precinct where last summer, another motorcycle gang chased and savagely attacked a family that refused to submit to their intimidation… In this occasion the mayhem went on for about 20~25 minutes… After the recording stopped there was a second crash of a motorcycle, against the white car parked in front of the bus. The gang returned about an hour later for a few more minutes of the same, and then returned a third time around 8:30 PM to set off fireworks and car alarms, for about five minutes.
While that is no excuse to shut down traffic, at least it wasn’t another random act of “motorcycle gang” activity. (Video: WaHi Report)
UPDATE: Another video, shot in portrait, shows the biker’s antics from another vantage point.
“It took place around 3:45pm,” said Jon-Marc McDonald, who uploaded the footage to YouTube. “They were there for around 10-15 minutes.”
