'Bike Gang Of Kids' Harass People At Port Jeff CrossFit, Wendy's

PORT JEFFERSON STATION, NY — A group of about 20 teenagers on bicycles were involved in a pair of disturbances Thursday in Port Jefferson Station, Suffolk police said.

The teens had an altercation with staff of CrossFit DHP on Patchogue Road, prompting officers to respond at 6:15 p.m., police said. The bicyclists left when police arrived and headed to Wendy's on the Nesconset Highway, where they threw drinks and cursed at customers in the parking lot, police said.

Tickets were issued to two of the teens' parents, police said. No one was injured.

Video posted to Comsewogue Community on Facebook shows the teens in the parking lot of the CrossFit gym; most are not wearing masks. The video has since been taken down or hidden.

Warning: graphic language

"Harassing people at a gym," a woman said in the video. "The cops told them to leave. They're not leaving. They threw a barbell at my husband."

A man from the gym approaches the group and a teenager appears to throw a punch at him.

"Are you f------ serious?" a woman said. "That's assault."

Another man approaches the group holding a rod.

A man tells the teens the police will be called and the woman tells them to go home. One boy wearing a mask shouts at the man holding the rod while sticking his finger towards his face.

One of the teens appears to try and grab something out of the hands of a woman from the gym.

"I'm not laughing," she said in response. "We're just running a business, that's all."

The teens then shout profanities at the adults, who again tell them to go home.

One of the boys starts urging a man to punch him.

"You want to throw my bike? So touch me," he said. "You're so tough to touch a 15-year-old's bike, right? Punch me. Punch me. Punch me. That's what I thought, you dumb f---."

The group leaves for Wendy's soon after.

The gym owners, Ryder Champouillon and his wife, Jenny Juniper, posted a video on Tuesday providing their side of the story.

"So this bike gang of kids came up to the gym and started harassing us," Juniper wrote on Facebook. "We had to call the cops on them, they left but then came back and tried to start a fight with us. It was crazy! ... Apparently they were riding around town all day harassing businesses and making videos. My soul is too innocent for this world lol."

Champouillon is aware of the video's spread on social media and is appreciative of it, he said. He said he saw 40 to 50 teens.

"The last time when they came through, they happened to verbally harass and physically assault members of our gym," he said in the video. "Thankfully we were able to get those members inside. Arguments were had in the parking lot. Thankfully, everybody was kept safe."

He gave a "huge thank you" to Suffolk police. Champouillon asked if names of the teens could be sent to him so he could provide them to police.

"So proper measures can be taken to make sure that they learn their lesson," Champouillon said. "The whole idea of this situation is a testament to the way things in society can go awry when authority is disrespected, and people and children are left to do what they want. There are certain things that just do not hold up in an upright, correct society like threatening people, senior citizens and children who are minding their own business and working on their health and fitness."

CrossFit DHP also thanked Suffolk Legislator Kara Hahn and the community for their support in a statement provided to Patch.

"We wish we could say we were [the group's] first incident but we are not," the gym said. "Members of our community and the surrounding neighborhoods have shared their experiences of harassment, violent attacks and damage to personal property over the last several months through our community pages."

The gym owners spoke on Wednesday with local government officials about moving forward with programs for the community and youth to have an outlet surrounded by positive role models.

"We are looking to help these children go down a better path and the first step is to make their families aware of their actions," the gym stated.

The owners are asking anyone able to identify the teenagers involved to send a confidential email to coaches@crossfitdhp.com.

"As a lot of people saw, an incident occurred last Thursday afternoon during one of our afternoon workouts in the parking lot," the owners said. "A group of young men and women on their bikes were seen smoking weed behind the building and they started harassing our members who were going on their run. We asked them to be aware of our presence but then they started hitting our members with their bikes. At that point we asked them to leave and that we would call the cops to which they said they were proud that the cops were chasing them around all day. With a lot of vulgar language and verbal harassment, they did start to leave as the cops escorted them out.

"Along the way, they started to fight one of our members, picking up a barbell and trying to throw it at him. When the cops left, they came back about 10 minutes later looking for a fight, threatening to kill us. That is when the video that has gone viral was recorded. They went as far as to use pipes from their bikes as weapons as they swung them at our heads. To go even further, several of them spit on us, which during a pandemic is an unquestionably wrong.

"We would ask everyone to continue to be positive role models to our children. The amount of disrespect was horrifying in this situation and we hope these children move down better paths in their future."