CLEVELAND — Gas station owners and clerks could be on the hook for fueling ATVs and dirt bikes that aren’t street legal, which create havoc on the roads.
But does this approach fly in court?
New video from Cleveland surveillance cameras shows the chaos back on Aug. 2 on Denison Avenue and W. 65th Street on the city’s west side.
A Real Time Crime Center camera captured dirt bikes and ATVs taking over the street.
You could see riders surfing into oncoming cars and jamming up traffic, and a nearby gas station becoming a spot to meet up and fuel up.
“It’s not like what we saw last September,” Cleveland Police Chief Annie Todd said.
Last September, drivers in souped-up cars did donuts in intersections and around police cars, participants shot airsoft guns at officers and even shut down I-90.
Party bus driver met by masked mob on I-90 during takeover last September.
Two weeks ago, Todd said groups on dirt bikes and ATVs traveled from Cleveland’s Eastside to the Westside doing stunts.
“I think they were out there having fun, but it’s causing a nuisance to the entire community,” Todd said.
The Real Time Crime Center zoomed in on people and their rides at a gas station on Denison.
“We’re going back to look at the participants but also the gas stations to see if they were actually allowing them to pump gas,” Todd said.
Todd says it’s illegal for gas stations to allow someone with an unlicensed, unregistered vehicle to fill up.
“I’m very disturbed by the language of this statute because it’s just so non-descript,” Criminal Defense Attorney and Adjunct Professor at Case Western Reserve University Susan Moran said.
Cleveland passed the ordinance allowing them to ticket gas stations in 2017.
Police say only nine tickets have been given for fueling violations.
News 5 investigators looked into the dispositions in court for those citations. Five people were found guilty, and the only case this year was dismissed.
Moran says the statute is so broad in its descriptions that it’s unfair to the clerk.
“Is she supposed to be looking out the window while this is happening to make sure that appropriate vehicles are using the machines? This isn’t 1950. This isn’t when we’d send someone out to fill up your car,” Moran said.
Moran also points to a potential danger.
“How scary, right. So if a bunch of people show up with vehicles they’re trying to fill up and if she’s got to maybe turn off from the inside the tank they’ll come in probably angry wanting answers and so now we have a confrontation,” Moran said.
Todd says sometimes police crack down on dangerous drivers immediately, and some resolve after the fact, like the recent prison sentences in last year’s street takeovers.
Port Clinton woman sentenced to prison time for role in 2024 street takeovers.
“Is there a best practice to address it, no,” Todd said.
Moran says if police are really concerned, put an officer at the gas station.
“It’s not impossible to ask police to do their job and if they’re concerned about the fillups, put a policeman there, that’s their job,” Moran said.
Drivers could also be cited for fueling up something that’s not street legal.
The violation is a minor misdemeanor with a $100 fine.
So far, police say no citations have been issued from Aug. 4, when the chief spoke with us, to now.
