Bike takeover raises serious concerns in Seattle neighborhood

Bike takeover raises concerns in Seattle

A group of individuals took over the streets of a Seattle neighborhood in a bike takeover event on Friday evening, causing chaos and concern among residents.

SEATTLE - A group of individuals took over the streets of Seattle in a bike takeover event on Friday evening, causing chaos and concern among residents.

The incident, captured on video by FOX 13 Seattle Reporter AJ Janavel, occurred at the intersection of 15th Avenue N.W. and N.W. Market Street in Ballard around 8:30 p.m.

Witnesses reported that the group had been gathering at a Safeway parking lot before they embarked on their disruptive ride through the neighborhood. The video footage shows a swarm of motorcycles, dirt bikes, mopeds, mini-bikes, ATVs and other non-street legal cruisers, weaving through traffic, riding over sidewalks and driving in circles through red light intersections, creating a hazardous and dangerous situation for pedestrians and motorists.

"My biggest concern is for the people walking on the sidewalk and also the motorists themselves, because they're not paying attention to the cars that are driving on the street," said Rosie Wans.

Wans works near where the takeover happened and said she saw a similar group earlier in the day in a different part of the city.

Rahman Almalay works security across the street from where the takeover happened. He told FOX 13 Seattle he saw the same bikers gathered in the Safeway parking lot, but had no idea they were planning on taking over the street.

"It was dangerous. The video you showed me, that's not good. I thought they were just hanging out," he said.

Almalay says the most concerning part is he doesn't believe officials can stop it.

"Everybody's covered. There's no plates. There's no way you can stop them," said Alamay. "There's no way. You know? The only thing … probably … the cops would have came and told them to leave, because there's a lot of them. How many are you going to catch?"

FOX 13 Seattle reached out to Seattle City Councilmember Dan Strauss, who represents the neighborhood, for a statement regarding the incident as well as the Seattle Police Department. As of this writing, we have not yet heard back.

The bike takeover has raised serious safety concerns in the neighborhood. Seattle has struggled in the past dealing with similar illegal street racing events.