Mob Of ATV Riders, Bikers In Wading River Leads To Crashes: PD

WADING RIVER — A crowd of 50 to 100 bikers and ATV riders mobbed Sound Avenue in Wading River Sunday, leading to all-terrain vehicle crashes and three individuals charged, police said.

"They were blocking the roadway, preventing motorists from getting by," said Riverhead Town Police Sgt. Jonathan Devereaux.

Deveraux said police "sent numerous vehicles" to try to disperse or detain the crowd" but the riders headed off in different directions throughout Riverhead Town and Suffolk County,.

Sgt. Devereaux could not say if the crowd of riders were the same group that has been seen in the Mastic-Shirley area nearby recently.

Officers from Shirley's 7th Precinctresponded to the first crash just before 4 p.m. on Ridge Road in Ridge after a 15-year-old ATV rider was involved in a single-vehicle crash near the intersection of Whiskey Road, police said. The 15-year-old was transported to Peconic Bay Medical Center for treatment of "non-life-threatening injuries," according to police.

The second crash was reported in the area on Rocky Point Road, near Whiskey Road, in Rocky Point just after 4 p.m., when the ATV rider "lost control" and the vehicle "became disabled," but he was not injured, police said.

Both the 15-year-old, whose name was not released because he is a minor, and Dominic Avarello, 20, of Massapequa, were both charged with reckless driving and released on appearance tickets, police said.

Riverhead police also charged a man in connection with the ATV rider, but only with operating an ATV on a public roadway,a town ordinance, and numerous vehicle and traffic violations, Devereax said.

Police impounded both ATVs; the vehicles can only be operated in approved areas like tracks or privately-owned land where the operator has the permission of the property owner.

The county currently has an ATV task force to address the dangers of illegal riding.

Safety on area roadways has been a concern countywide for months as bands of drivers heading out en masse have sparked a public outcry.

Last year, Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone announced a crackdown on "fast and furious" driving on area roadways after Suffolk County Police, he said, received "numerous" calls, with officers from multiple precincts, as well as highway, special patrol units and aviation responding to the drivers who were "conducting races across Suffolk County" and threatening motorists' safety.

Members of the department issued 27 summonses during that crackdown, police said.

With reporting by Peggy Spellman Hoey.