Crime & Safety

Teens Charged With Reckless Driving After ATV Hit Brick Cop: PD

The police officer was not injured; the teens turned themselves in after the incident was shared on social media.

Brick Township police say two juveniles turned themselves in following Thursday's ATV incident.
Brick Township police say two juveniles turned themselves in following Thursday's ATV incident. (Karen Wall/Patch )

BRICK, NJ — Two Brick Township teens have been charged with reckless driving after an incident where a Brick Township police officer was hit by an ATV in a work zone on Thursday, police said Friday.

The teenage boys, accompanied by their parents, turned themselves in at police headquarters about 6 p.m. on Thursday, Brick Sgt. Jim Kelly said. They were charged with obstructing the administration of law, reckless driving, operating unregistered vehicles, and failure to wear helmets while operating an ATV, he said.

The incident happened about 1 p.m. in the neighborhood of 19th Avenue and Walnut Drive, in an area where there is roadwork going on neighborhood and several streets are coned off for the construction.

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Police Officer Brian Ulman was investigating a minor complaint in the area when he saw two males, one on a quad and the other on a two-wheeled dirtbike, drive through the coned off area into a work zone, Kelly said.

Ulman pulled behind the ATVs to stop them. When the drivers saw a different officer who was working at the construction site up ahead, they both stopped and turned around to find Ulman behind them, with his overhead lights activated.

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The two did not stop despite the police lights being on and Ulman yelling for them to stop, and instead drove by Ulman, ignoring his commands.

As the quad passed Ulman, its rear fender hit Ulman’s knee and one of the wheels ran over his foot, Kelly said. The contact was light enough so as not to injure Ulman.

At that point Ulman and other officers established a perimeter and began searching for the two, and information was posted on the police department's Facebook page seeking help in identifying the two drivers. As word spread, the two juveniles turned themselves in, both accompanied their parents.

Their names were not released.

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