The Ontario Provincial Police have charged 10 motorcyclists in the aftermath of the hooligan riding that took over Toronto-area roads during the August long weekend.
In case you missed the initial report on the incident, check out the coverage here. Basically, a herd of riders hooned down a series of major GTA roads, including the Gardiner Expressway, Don Valley Parkway, the 409, 401 and 403, and Queen Elizabeth Way, with traffic blocked as riders pulled illegal stunts and did burnouts. The public wasn’t impressed, and police appealed for help catching the riders.
At this point, law enforcement officers have laid 35 Criminal Code charges and seized five motorcycles, and broken up several stunt riding meets (which may partly explain why we never saw another hooligan ride on the Labour Day weekend). Â Despite the public plea for information to nab their suspects, the OPP actually says several of the riders were caught after they shared their videos on social media, which is a fairly common scenario in these situations.
The OPP’s spokesthingie said that “These stunts that self-servingly fueled their egos needed to be stopped before anyone was killed or maimed.”
The riders face a variety of criminal charges, including dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, conspiracy to commit dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, mischief and flight while pursued by a peace officer. Some riders also face traffic charges, and charges were also laid under the Controlled Drug and Substances Act.
what a bunch of morons.
Well, it’s a start, but I doubt if that’s enough people charged to act as much of a deterrent for others in the future.