What a crushing experience.
More than 200 illegal mopeds and scooters were smashed under a bulldozer’s treads Wednesday as a warning to scofflaws who don’t register their rides — and often use them to commit crimes.
The so-called “crush” at a sanitation department garage in Staten Island accounted for just a fraction of the 5,700 illegal mopeds and scooters NYPD officers have seized so far this year, said police Commissioner Jessica Tisch.
Those seizures are up nearly 10% from the same time last year, Tisch touted.
“These illegal mopeds and scooters have become a persistent public safety issue across the city, and are often used in the commission of a crime,” she said before a bulldozer ran back-and-forth over the multi-colored conveyances, cracking their cheap plastic and metal frames.
Mopeds are legal in the Big Apple, but only if they’re properly registered, insured and their owners are licensed — steps that far too many don’t take.
Swarms of illegal mopeds — including some ridden by snatch-and-grab migrant gangs — began to clog city streets and terrorize New Yorkers, prompting successive crackdowns under former mayor Eric Adams.
The seizures — followed by semi-regular crushes — have continued under Mayor Zohran Mamdani as crooks apparently haven’t got the message.
Tisch pointed out that the two suspects in the stray-bullet shooting death of 7-month-old Kaori Patterson-Moore used an illegal moped in the crime,
The pair sped off going the wrong direction on a one-way street, crashing head-on into an oncoming vehicle.
Tisch joined other top city officials to watch Department of Sanitation workers conduct the crush.
The mopeds and scooters were seized by cops from all five boroughs, officials said.
“For those who want to recklessly use their these vehicles across the city but especially on Staten island, you will be brought to justice and your vehicles will be confiscated,” said Vito Fossella, borough president of Staten Island.
“There is a zero tolerance for that.”
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