12-Year-Old Dirt Bike Rider Charged After Fleeing Police Stop In Howell

HOWELL, NJ — A 12-year-old Howell boy is facing juvenile delinquency charges after he took off when a police officer tried to pull him over on Monday, Howell police said.

The boy's name was not released because he is a minor.

The incident happened about 3 p.m. Monday near Taunton School as a Howell Township police officer was monitoring the area due to repeated complaints about electric dirt bikes creating a nuisance, police said.

While the officer was parked on Old Hickory Way, he saw a child on dirt bike riding down the wrong side of the road and saw him run the stop sign. There was no visible license plate on the dirt bike, police said.

The officer tried to pull the rider over but the boy looked back at the police officer and kept going even after the officer used the PA to tell him to pull over, police said. Instead, the rider "accelerated to reckless speeds of 45 to 50 mph". Because it was clear the boy was running from the attempt to pull him over, the officer stopped his pursuit, police said.

Police were quickly able to determine which street the boy lives on, and he was identified and charged with acts of juvenile delinquency that police said were the equivalent of the adult charge of eluding a traffic stop, police said.

The boy also was charged with an ordinance violation for riding an off-road vehicle on public streets and several motor vehicle offenses, police said.

The dirt bike was seized and may be subject to forfeiture, police said.

Howell police issued a reminder that "electric dirt bikes constitute motor vehicles (motorcycles)" and as such they are required to be properly registered, insured and driven by a person with a valid motorcycle license, police said.

"The Howell Township Police Department has initiated directed enforcement regarding illegal dirt bike riding ... in response to numerous citizen complaints" as well as crashes in Howell that have involved unregistered and/or uninsured off-road vehicles, police said.

"Often times these crashes result in significant injury and property damage," and they are typically found to be at fault for causing the crashes, police said.