Two arrests made in massive dirt bike and ATV rally

• Dustin Chambers/CL File
• A 2014 Bike Life Sunday ride. Every week, several dozen dirt bikers and A.T.V. riders travel around the city in large packs.

Atlanta's wheelie-popping dirt bike and ATV riders appear to be back in full force after keeping a low profile in recent months.

Over the weekend hundreds of off-road vehicle riders hit the open road, participating in an event called #RayDay5, and rode in packs throughout East Atlanta, Old Fourth Ward, Westside, and other parts of the city. Like last summer, their presence has drawn the ire of local residents, and left police officials scrambling for a response.

The mass pack rides yesterday led to two arrests and damage to at least one APD patrol car. Around 7:45 p.m. last night, APD spotted about 400 off-road vehicles traveling eastbound on Ralph McGill Avenue near Piedmont Road. One officer, noting in his report the dirt bikes were driving "very recklessly," decided to pursue a three-wheeled vehicle that had run multiple red lights.

The rider, Kirk Frost, a music producer and regular guest on "Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta," allegedly ran several more red lights while traveling on the wrong side of the road around 25 miles per hour, according to APD's report. When Frost eventually pulled over on his red Polaris Slingshot, he was arrested and charged with five counts of failure to obey a traffic control device and single counts of reckless driving, operating an unregistered vehicle, and driving on the wrong side of the roadway.

When placing Mr. Frost under arrest some of the dirt bike and ATV riders circled back and began to taunt us making the scene very unsafe," the officer wrote in the report.

Demarcus Jordan, a 28-year-old ATV rider, was arrested after police responded to a pack of more than 30 off-road vehicles blocking traffic at a gas station near Moreland Avenue and I-20. According to APD, an officer tackled Jordan to the ground after he attempted to flee the scene on his ATV. He was arrested and charged with reckless driving and operating an off road vehicle on a city street.

Outside of Delia's Chicken Sausage Stand on Marietta Street, two riders got off their vehicles, jumped on a parked APD patrol car, and stomped on the vehicle's windshield. The incident, which was captured in a video and posted on Instagram, was confirmed by APD.

::A video posted by @yung__og_ on Jun 28, 2015 at 4:29pm PDT

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An APD spokesman last summer told CL the department was thinking about how to clamp down on misdemeanor riding violations in way that didn't harm the safety of officers, riders, or residents.

"We simply cannot chase them down city streets," former APD spokesman Carlos Campos following a large 300-person pack ride last August. "We recognize these riders present not only a nuisance, but also a public safety hazard, to our citizens. We must address this in a thoughtful, comprehensive manner."

But following yesterday's havoc, local residents have turned to community message boards and Facebook groups to bemoan the riders' return. We've reached out to APD for comment about how they plan to address the mass rides in the future. If we hear back, we'll post an update.

"We observed the bikes around the city and began following them without actually being engaged in a high speed chase," APD spokeswoman Elizabeth Espy wrote to CL in an email this afternoon. "The air unit was up assisting us with locating the riders."

One solution being proposed from an NPU-X member is the creation of a dirt bike park to give the riders a place to use their vehicles without tearing up public parks or blocking traffic. However, skeptics of the proposal say the park won't keep riders off the streets.

UPDATE, 4:56 p.m. APD issued the following statement about the patrol car that was damaged on Marietta Street. From Sgt. Greg Lyon:

An Atlanta police car was damaged by individuals who were riding recklessly in a pack of at least 100 ATVs and motorcycles throughout the city. One of the ATVs stalled at the intersection of Northside and Marietta. An officer who was monitoring the group attempted to apprehend the driver of the stalled ATV on foot and injured his leg as he fell on gravel during a brief foot chase. As he engaged in a foot chase, several members of the pack doubled back around, climbed on the hood of the empty patrol vehicle and began to kick the front windshield, causing damage. The ATV was processed and impounded.