It's a nightmare for any driver — you get boxed in on the highway by what seem like hundreds of motorcycle riders. Watch the video of what happens when a Range Rover driver tries to escape, runs over several bikers, then gets chased and attacked by the two-wheeled mob.
The video was allegedly taken on the West Side Highway of Manhattan during a biker rally yesterday. We see the group of bikers surround a black Range Rover Sport. The New York Post reports that an unidentified man in his 30s is driving with his wife and child onboard. Somehow, the SUV driver hits one of the bikers. It's unclear whether the driver accelerates into the biker, or if the biker brake checks the driver.
What is clear is that the bikers surround the Range Rover, and then the driver slams on the gas, plowing through a number of motorcyclists. The riders give chase, quickly surround the SUV again, and again bring the vehicle to a halt. When one rider throws the driver's door open, the Range Rover takes off again, knocking another rider to the ground. The bikers follow it off the highway and onto West 178th street, where traffic brings the car to a stop.
A rider runs up to the SUV, smashes the window in with his helmet and more riders surround the Range Rover as the video cuts to a close.
The New York Post reports that the SUV driver was hospitalized with stitches for being "slashed," according to police sources. The New York Daily News reports that no riders were harmed, and certainly no riders were killed (as some rumors claim). A police investigation is ongoing and no arrests have been made, the New York Post reports.
Now, let me say that there are no 'right' parties in this video. Everyone behaves extremely, extremely badly on both the four-wheeled and two-wheeled sides. Running over bike riders is in no way justifiable. Chasing and beating the offending driver is in no way justifiable. Shutting down a highway for a mass ride in the first place is in no way justifiable. What happened was a nightmare that could have been prevented on by both sides, right from the very beginning.
UPDATE: Reader 505Turbeaux claims to have been on the road with this group of bikers and reports that they were riding like squids before the video began.
I saw these guys yesterday, the bikers, and what a pack of assholes they were. Splitting lanes on the highway at speed (70mph between 2 cars), cutting people off. They had me boxed in so I couldn't get out of an exit only lane so they could get off. Not saying they deserve to be hit, but they had it coming.
I had my blinker on and was handsignalling I needed to get out of the exit only lane. everyone kept passing on the left to cut me off in front of the exit, 4-5 of them flipped me off. I tried rolling slow but they had no inkling of how to ride well. I ride myself, and this was just heinous.
UPDATE TWO: The New York Times published an article on the incident and they revealed three new pieces of information.
- The first motorcycle rider hit by the Range Rover got a broken leg (this is the only motorcycle injury the police have information on).
- The Range Rover driver has been released from the hospital with lacerations to his face and other bruises.
- The Range Rover driver was not charged by the police.
UPDATE THREE: The New York Post now reports that the driver was 33-year-old Alexian Lien, who did call 911 on the riders at 1:30 yesterday.
UPDATE FOUR: Instagram user redyredbx posted these two images onto Instagram of the final scene of the incident. You can see police with the smashed Range Rover (bottom) and you can see Lien, bloody, on the ground (right).
(Hat tip to Borsuq, Tiny Toy Viper)