Off-road motorcyclists, ATV riders take to the streets of downtown LA during late-night takeover

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- A group of riders on off-road motorcycles and ATVs made their way through downtown Los Angeles during a late-night street takeover.

At about 10:30 p.m., least a dozen riders were seen weaving in and out of traffic on surface streets, popping wheelies, performing stunts and at times running red lights.

At one point, the group of motorcyclists and ATV riders pulled up to a Los Angeles Police Department patrol vehicle that was stopped at an intersection. The takeover riders moved on without police intervening or giving chase.

There were no reports of injuries or arrests.

The growing popularity of street takeovers has become concerning for officers.

"You'll get a group of 200 or 300 people, and then you do see that one person that gets nailed ... now you just committed a felony hit-and-run," said Sgt. Robert Leary, who leads LAPD's Street Racing Task Force.

The group has been cracking down on street takeovers for past several years. But the phenomenon continues to grow, fueled by videos that spread quickly through social media posts.

Leary said in situations like the one on Thursday night, officers conduct what is called a "balance test" in which they determine if chasing offenders for what is just a minor citation is worth endangering lives.

"Are my officers going to light them up and try to do a traffic stop, knowing that from past encounters with them that they are going to run from the police?" he said. "Then what? A poor guy on a motorcycle gets nailed by a car."

A recent University of Southern California Open-Source Intelligence Reporting Lab investigation tracked down and watched more than 100 hours worth of street takeovers - and students attended several of them.

They found that takeovers in Southern California have surged since the pandemic lockdown in 2020.

"Each year, there's easily over 1,000 street takeovers that L.A. County is dealing with," said Kevin Reyes, an expert digital investigator leading USC Annenberg's curriculum on open-source intelligence (OSINT).

That's nearly three per day, and while law enforcement is working to put a big dent in that number, it doesn't expect to completely curb street takeovers

"Are we going to be able to completely stop this? No," said Leary. "It's just too many people. We just follow them around and pick them up, one by one."