Press Release

Over the past week, in three separate operations, the Queens District Attorney’s office and the NYPD seized a total of 176 scooters as part of an ongoing joint operation between her office and local police precincts to address the vehicles’ persistent involvement in crimes such as drive-by shootings and robberies. The scooters were confiscated for being illegally parked. The vast majority were unregistered and uninsured.

District Attorney Katz said: “Unregistered scooters are being used to commit violent crimes, including shootings and robberies. Through our proactive enforcement efforts in collaboration with the NYPD, we have taken close to 200 of these illegal vehicles off our streets in just one week. We will continue working with the NYPD to eliminate the threat illegal motorbikes represent to our communities.”

NYPD Commissioner Edward A. Caban said: “The men and women of the NYPD, in close collaboration with our law enforcement partners, continue to make headway in reducing the illegal use of motorized scooters in New York City. With nearly 200 scooters seized in Queens so far this month, the positive effect on quality of life is tangible. Together, we are providing the public safety that New Yorkers expect and deserve.”

Detectives from the District Attorney’s office working with officers from the NYPD’s 108^th and 114^th Precincts searched 18 locations in Woodside and Long Island City on Tuesday and Thursday nights. Of the 133 scooters confiscated, 103 were unregistered. The joint operation previously resulted in the seizure of 43 scooters.

Additional operations are planned in Queens as part of an enforcement effort to get illegal unregistered motorized scooters off the road.

The operation was conducted in partnership with members of the NYPD by the District Attorney’s Detective Bureau under the supervision of Lieutenants Janet Helgeson and Joseph Falgiano, and under the overall supervision of Assistant Chief of Detectives Daniel O’Brien.