Videos show clash between bikers, truck driver near Chicago
AURORA, Ill. -- A confrontation between a pack of motorcycle riders and a truck driver was caught on camera in suburban Chicago.
Police say a motorcycle rider punched a truck driver in the face on Sunday at Edgelawn and Galena. When the driver fought back and tried to escape several of the bikers allegedly attacked him.
The video shows the driver hitting a motorcycle, leaving the road and driving on grass. He eventually circled back when police got to the scene.
Investigators said that same group of bikers blocked a police squad car earlier.
No one was hurt.
The moments leading up to the nasty confrontation were also caught on camera.
The altercation began minutes earlier and miles down the road, the video shows. Aurora police are looking at the video, which was taken well before the physical run-in between bikers and the pickup truck driver on Galena Boulevard.
Investigators are trying to determine who did what and who, if anyone, should face criminal charges or traffic citations for the fracas.
The video shows large group of bikers riding west on Galena Boulevard, taking up both lanes of traffic and sometimes riding in oncoming lanes. Several motorcyclists can be seem popping wheelies, racing, and dodging in and out of regular traffic.
At one point, a silver Chevy pick-up truck is seen in the right hand lane, attempting to move to the left to pass the bikers. That truck then juts into the momentarily vacant oncoming lanes, speeds to pass some bikers and then has to veer back to avoid a collision with approaching vehicles.
Bikers from the rear then converge on the truck and are seen surrounding it as the caravan continues to head westbound. As they approach a red light intersection, the truck jumps a curb and attempts to drive around stopped traffic but gets caught up in the line of vehicles waiting for the light.
That is where the physical confrontation begins with some bikers.
A separate video shows Aurora police officers arriving on the scene.
In November, the WLS I-Team investigated the safety threat posed by packs of riders on high-performance sport bikes that some call "crotch rockets."
Even though Sunday's ride was during the daytime, most are at night when bikers perform risky, high-speed stunts on public highways. Lake Shore Drive is a favorite.
For these so-called "stunters" recording the rides are part of the thrill, along with outrunning police. Numerous accidents and deaths in the Chicago area over the past few years have resulted from those stunt rides.
Deadly motorcycle accidents in Illinois have more than doubled in the past 20 years.
The I-Team has identified the owner of that 2005 GMC Sierra pickup truck involved in the altercation. The owner is a woman from west suburban Yorkville, but it was a man who was driving on Sunday.
The I-Team has not been unable to reach either of them.
No citations or arrests have been made. Police are investigating.
