The NYPD is asking for the public’s help identifying and locating the people seen in the attached photos who they say are sought in connection with a reckless endangerment incident that occurred in Pelham Bay Park in the Northeast Bronx.

 

Police said that on Saturday, Aug. 26, at around 5 p.m. inside Pelham Bay Park, a 2-year-old female victim was in the company of her family when some people driving a two-wheeled vehicle at high speed struck the 2-year-old, causing lacerations, bleeding and pain to the right leg.

 

The suspects fled the park, some on the vehicle and some on foot. The victim was transported by EMS to NYC Health + Hospitals/Jacobi in stable condition.

 

As reported (see page 7 News Briefs), NYC Department of Parks & Creation announced that effective last June 20, the department
launched a pilot program allowing e-bikes and lightweight e-scooters on Park drives and greenways. Officials said the pilot program would allow the same bicycles, e-bikes, and e-scooters that are legal to drive on NYC streets to also drive on park drives, spaces where bicycles are already permitted in parks. They said Class 1, 2, and 3 e-bikes, as well as lighter-weight e-scooters, are already allowed to operate on NYC streets and in bike lanes and will be allowed in parks as part of the pilot program.

In preparation, they said Parks has created a new webpage at nyc.gov/parks/ebikes, with a citywide map of parks showing greenways and drives that are part of the program, as well as a multilingual survey to both hear from and educate New Yorkers on electric micromobility. They said the pilot program does not allow e-bikes on pedestrian paths, and faster, heavier mopeds or motorcycles are not allowed
anywhere in parks or on greenways. They said the latter are also precluded from bike lanes, and their drivers must hold a driver’s license.

 

Ahead of the June primaries, and as she, herself, had previously been hit by a moped/scooter in 2021, we asked District 14 City Councilmember Pierina Sanchez (C.D. 14), who does NOT represent Pelham Bay, for her thoughts on the recently implemented pilot program which allows some motorized vehicles in parks, which was implemented in June.

 

She said at the time, “Pedestrian safety, folks that are walking, their safety has to be the priority, and so I am going to continue to push the Parks’ department and the NYPD to ensure the safety of our pedestrians. There’s a little bit of a gray area with the weight of the scooter determines whether or not you need to have a license plate, determines where you can and can’t be, and so it just has to be another look at the regulatory regime around scooters and e-bikes and everything just so that we are prioritizing the safety of pedestrians the most.”

 

For more information on micromobility devices, visit nyc.gov/ebikes. Click here to access the survey to provide feedback on the program.

 

Anyone with information in regard to this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the CrimeStoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/ or on Twitter @NYPDTips.

 

All calls are strictly confidential.

 

*David Greene contributed to this story.