Reckless & Taunting: About 50 Bikers Defied Officers On I-680, Could Face Charges [VIDEO]

The California Highway Patrol is investigating an Oct. 11 incident when about 50 motorcyclists went stunt riding on Interstate 680 from Milpitas to San Jose, defied a CHP officer and a video of it was posted on YouTube, a spokesman said.

The motorcycle riders entered southbound I-680 from Montague Expressway in Milpitas that Saturday afternoon and began driving at speeds of 55 to 75 mph amid the sparse traffic on the freeway, Officer Ross Lee said.

A CHP motorcycle officer was on patrol “when he saw one of the riders going down the highway doing a wheelie,” Lee said.

The officer drove on the roadway, caught up with members of the group, some who taunted him and brazenly rode past despite his attempts to stop them, according to the CHP.

[VIDEO: YouTube video of the incident.]

Since there were so many and they continued to refuse to comply with him, the officer decided for his own safety to pull over to the shoulder and wait for a backup officer to arrive, Lee said.

“There’s not much you can do,” Lee said. “He tried to make a stop but he did not have the resources.”

Once the other officer arrived, both resumed the chase after the riders until the officers observed them leaving I-680 onto the exit to McKee Road about three miles south of Montague, according to he CHP.

The officers, figuring the riders would not yield, determined it would not be safe for the public if they pursued the riders on city streets and decided to “let it go,” Lee said.

No one was reported injured during the group ride and the CHP would assume the participants were part of a specific organization but that has to be investigated, according to Lee.

The CHP does have potential charges it may consider pending its investigation, including reckless driving, exhibition of speed and evading a police officer, all misdemeanors. Those charges could become felonies if someone were injured, Lee said.

Group motorcycle rides are “pretty common in the Bay Area,” Lee said. “We definitely see it in San Jose.”

Most of the rides occur on weekend days when there is less traffic, he said.

The YouTube video of the ride on I-680 shows the uniformed CHP officer trying pull over a motorcyclist who has a video camera and waves the officer off as other riders speed by, some riding vertically on the back wheels of their cycles.

At one point, after the CHP officer is no longer in the video, the rider with the camera rears back and does a wheelie.

--Bay City News

--Image still shot via CBS SF Bay Area video.