Reckless dirt bike riders doing "burnouts, wheelies and taunting other road users" are leaving the south Auckland community feeling unsafe, a local says.
Newshub has received footage showing two dirt bike riders speeding away from the BP service station on Cavendish Drive in Manukau at about 5:50pm on Sunday.
One of the dirt bike riders slows down and starts taunting a police car chasing him before he speeds off down the road. The video then shows police inspecting a motorbike outside a warehouse.
A second video Newshub has received also filmed outside the BP shows a group of dirt bike riders speeding along the road doing wheelies.
Police said in a statement a driver was left "shaken" and "intimidated" after dirt bike riders hit her car in an incident that happened at around the same time and place this video was taken.
A person who witnessed the incident in the video, but wished to remain anonymous, told Newshub this is not the first time this type of behaviour has happened.
"Several police cars blocked those reckless bikers and stopped two of them at the corners," the witness said.
"They gave up their bikes but ran away on their mate’s bikes. There was one biker continuing taunting police officers as you can see."
"Those reckless bikers pass by these areas almost every day and are doing burnouts, wheelies and taunting other road users on the road."
The witness said the community doesn't feel safe due to the actions of the dirt bike riders.
"From my point of view, I think police are really trying to help them rather than hit them with police cars, or something, they still don’t want to injure them, but those bikers don’t give a f**k about it," the witness told Newhsub.
"The community in these areas definitely feels unsafe. Imagine you just normally drive on the road and 5-6 of them run the red lights and you might hit them, but they don’t care. I saw them always yelling at other normal drivers on the road."
Inspector Rod Honan, the area commander for Counties Manukau Central, told Newshub police will not tolerate the type of behaviour seen in the video.
"We have no tolerance for their risky and illegal behaviour that not only puts their own safety at risk, but also the safety of other road users and pedestrians," Honan said.
Honan said they are taking the incident seriously and are appealing for information from the public.
"Police continue to appeal for information in relation to dangerous behaviour involving dirt bikes," Honan said.
"We want to reassure the community police do take this offending seriously and we work hard to identify and locate offenders."
Honan urges anyone that has information about these dirt bike riders to contact them.
"Police is thankful for information the community provides and we encourage people to continue submitting photos and footage of dangerous dirt bike driving behaviour," he said.
"We also encourage people to let us know about addresses with a lot of dirt bike activity. You can do this by calling 105 or 111 if it's happening now.
"You can also contact Crime Stoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111."
