Dirt Bike

A swarm of dirt bikers terrorized Michele Rosenberg as she rode down McCulloh Street, ramming her car with such relentlessness that she and her husband drove directly to the Northwest police station, where a sergeant said there was little he could do. Police say their options have been limited as they grapple with the nagging problem of dirt bikes in Baltimore. It's too dangerous to chase them, they say. And while it is illegal to drive the vehicles in the city, there have been few ways to crack down on the young men who routinely ignore the rules, taunting law enforcement and threatening residents such as the Rosenbergs.

I would like to keep the Christopher Clarke story alive for another day, and this time with the photographs from his funeral. The deaths of young men in Baltimore come and go like flashes of intermittent gunfire on some dark, distant battlefront. But we should pay attention to this one. We should not let it go. We should not shake our heads and quickly turn the page. We should talk to the boy's mother. We should look at the photographs. We should be outraged by the senseless death of Christopher Clarke on Tuesday, March 13 -- at least as outraged as many were over the arrest, the same day, of a 7-year-old for riding a dirt bike.

Mayor Sheila Dixon apologized yesterday to the parents of the 7-year-old boy whom police arrested after seeing him ride a motorized dirt bike, saying that officers had "better options" available than handcuffing and detaining the child. "Arresting a 7-year-old is not consistent with my philosophy of community policing," Dixon said at a City Hall news conference. "I know that many people in the community are outraged at this, it was a bad choice." The arrest, first reported in The Examiner, occurred about 4 p.m. Tuesday when a city police officer reported seeing a 7-year-old riding a blue-and-white Yamaha dirt bike on the sidewalk in the 2100 block of E. Federal St., said Officer Nicole Monroe, a police spokeswoman.

What kind of parents buy their 7-year-old son a dirt bike in a city where dirt bikes are illegal? If you're inclined to say "irresponsible ones" and feel tempted to put that label on Gerard Mungo Sr. and Lakisa Dinkins, read on before you do. Mungo and Dinkins are the parents of 7-year-old Gerard Mungo Jr. Eight days ago, a city police officer arrested Gerard Jr. after confiscating his dirt bike. The officer took the boy to the Eastern District station, where Mungo Sr. and Dinkins say he spent two hours handcuffed to a bench.

A teen-age male died in Brooklyn yesterday when he lost control of the dirt bike he was driving and hit his head on the concrete. He was not wearing a helmet, police said.The teen was riding his motorcycle in the 4200 block of Thayer St. at 1: 30 p.m. when the accident occurred, said Officer Raymond Howard of the city traffic enforcement section. Police said the teen died at the scene."He was so young, he didn't know how to ride," Howard said.Police said late last night they had not identified the teen.

A Park Heights resident was killed yesterday afternoon when the dirt bike he was driving collided with a car in the 3000 block of W. Belvedere Ave.Marvin Watts was traveling east in the westbound lane about 4: 30 p.m. when his bike struck a Lexus, driven by Stephanie Blankenship, 33, of the 3500 block of Cottage Ave., police spokeswoman Ragina L. Cooper said.Watts was thrown to the rear of Blankenship's car, which went into reverse, running over Watts before striking three unoccupied parked cars, Cooper said.

Baltimore police were attempting yesterday to identify a man killed in a dirt-bike accident in southern Baltimore over the weekend, the latest fatality in what one traffic officer said is a growing problem involving the off-road motor bikes.The victim was killed shortly after 1: 30 p.m. Saturday when he lost control of a Kawasaki motorbike in the 4200 block of Thayer Court in Brooklyn.Police said the man's clothes became entangled in the dirt bike, causing him to be dragged about 80 feet across the pavement.

A 24-year-old man was arrested and charged with first-degree murder yesterday after an early morning shooting in Northeast Baltimore that claimed the life of an 18-year-old, city police reported.Witnesses told police that a man on a dirt bike began shooting at a group of teen-agers after an exchange of words at about 2 a.m. in the 2700 block of Hugo Ave.Derrick Littleton, 18, of the 2700 block of Tivoly Ave. was taken to Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he died a short time later during emergency surgery for wounds of the arm and chest, police said.

Quiet, please.Railing against the roar of leaf blowers in California and tinkle of ice cream trucks in New Jersey, suburban America is fed up with noise. And in Maryland, the champion of quiet is Dave Jarinko, state noise cop.Wearing a uniform and badge and armed with a $10,000 sound sensor that can capture the hum of a swimming pool pump -- or the squawk of a peacock -- the Maryland Department of the Environment inspector travels the state investigating noise complaints that stymie local officials.

A 16-year-old Meade Village youth was in stable condition at North Arundel Hospital on Friday after he drove a dirt bike into a parked car during an encounter with a police officer trying to stop him.Residents who witnessed the incident shortly before 3 p.m. said a county police officer stood in the street and tried to grab the boy's shirt and the handlebars of the bike as the teen-ager drove by, then pushed him, causing him to crash into a Pontiac Grand...

Rumor has it Travis Pastrana did a backflip the day he was born - and stuck the landing. That's the story, at least, according to travispastrana.com. Though the Annapolis-born motocross and rally car champ's Web site stretches the truth about his birth, the action sport athlete's extreme feats seem just as impossible. In 2006, Pastrana received widespread recognition for landing motocross' first backflip. Today, he continues to thrill spectators with dirt bike double-backflips and plunges into the Grand Canyon.

When he was 19 years old, Tim Dyson was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma. It was then that he decided he wanted to be a freestyle motocross rider, and he began mimicking the aerial feats of his favorite dirt bike daredevils. The motocross enthusiast now runs his own business, Tim Dyson FMX, which tours the country performing FMX tricks. On Saturday and Sunday, Dyson tears into Ripken Stadium in Aberdeen for Baltimore Bike Fest, an event to raise money for Epicenter, a youth center. In addition to FMX shows, Baltimore Bike Fest features street bike stunts, a motorcycle show, a bikini and leather fashion show, and live disc jockeys.

Couple in hospital after motorcycle crash A husband and wife who crashed while riding a motorcycle on Route 29 in Columbia on Saturday afternoon remain hospitalized, authorities said. Shortly before 2 p.m., Timothy Danaher, 55, was operating a BMW R75/6 motorcycle with his wife, Diana Danaher, 52, as a passenger in the southbound lanes of the highway, near Seneca Drive, according to Howard County police. For an unknown reason, Danaher veered to the left and struck a guardrail. Both he and his wife were thrown off the bike, police said.

A swarm of dirt bikers terrorized Michele Rosenberg as she rode down McCulloh Street, ramming her car with such relentlessness that she and her husband drove directly to the Northwest police station, where a sergeant said there was little he could do. Police say their options have been limited as they grapple with the nagging problem of dirt bikes in Baltimore. It's too dangerous to chase them, they say. And while it is illegal to drive the vehicles in the city, there have been few ways to crack down on the young men who routinely ignore the rules, taunting law enforcement and threatening residents such as the Rosenbergs.

Boy, 15, killed when bike is hit by van A 15-year-old Reisterstown-area boy was killed yesterday afternoon when he drove his dirt bike into the path of a van in the street at the end of his driveway, Baltimore County police said. Connor Richard Kohls was riding a Yamaha 125cc dirt bike up and down the lengthy driveway of his home in the 13000 block of Dover Road near Tufton Springs Lane when he entered Dover Road and was struck by a northbound Ford Econoline van about 3:30 p.m., said Sgt. Robert Czawlytko of the county police crash team.

City police released yesterday the name of the Baltimore County teenager who died after being struck by a tractor-trailer while riding a dirt bike on Hollins Ferry Road in Mount Winans. Police said Ronald Canapp, 17, of the 2900 block of Charleston Ave. in Lansdowne was riding the dirt bike in the 2300 block of Hollins Ferry Road about noon when he was struck. Police said Canapp was not wearing a helmet and that he suffered massive head injuries. Canapp was taken by a city Fire Department ambulance to Maryland Shock Trauma Center, where he was pronounced dead a short time later.

A teenager died yesterday afternoon at a hospital shortly after he was struck by a tractor-trailer while riding a dirt bike on a street in the Mount Winans community in Southwest Baltimore, authorities said. About noon, the victim, between 16 and 19 years old, was riding the bike in the 2300 block of Hollins Ferry Road when he was struck by an 18-wheeler. The victim, whose name was not released, was not wearing a helmet and the rig ran over his head, authorities said. The youth was taken by a city Fire Department ambulance to Maryland Shock Trauma Center, where he was pronounced dead a short time later.

When Tony Woodrum left his house yesterday morning, he had no idea he'd be witnessing a family first. The Baltimore native, who brought his 7-year-old son, D'Angelo, to the Panasonic Open at Camden Yards Sports Complex so they could watch his favorite event, motocross, noticed a particular display in the festival village while they were waiting to enter the grounds: a dirt-bike track. Twenty minutes later, his son was riding a motorcycle for the very first time. The display, sponsored by Yamaha, was a learn-to-ride program for kids 12 and under who wanted to take the plunge for the first time.

From: Gregory P. Kane, Disgruntled Citizen Menaced by Dirt Bike-Riding Scofflaws Re: Dirt bike-riding scofflaws Dear Mayor Sheila Dixon and Gov. Martin O'Malley: It happened soon after I made the turn on to Oakley Avenue from Park Heights Avenue. My first sign that there might be trouble was when I saw the two dimwits standing in the middle of the street at the corner of Oakley and Palmer avenues. "Ah!" I said to myself. "And here we have two more geniuses who have no idea why the word sideWALK has 'walk' in it."

The family of a 7-year-old boy who was arrested this year while sitting on a dirt bike filed a lawsuit yesterday against the Baltimore Police Department. Gerard Mungo Jr.'s arrest March 13 drew an apology from Mayor Sheila Dixon. Leonard D. Hamm, the police commissioner at the time, called it "inconsistent" with his policing strategy. Their comments are included in the lawsuit. Dirt bikes are illegal in Baltimore. The lawsuit alleges the bike was turned off and parked in front of a house in the 2100 block of E. Federal St. when an officer "maliciously and unreasonably grabbed Gerard by his shirt collar and dragged him off the bike."