Young people illegally riding electric motorcycles are increasingly trying to “bait” police into pursuing them, according to a warning from the B.C. Highway Patrol. Mounties released a video of a recent incident in North Vancouver on Thursday, showing a youth riding one of the prohibited devices on a city street—which is against the law—before fleeing from an officer who attempted to pull him over. “The rider appeared to have a low level of skill and nearly collided with a car before fleeing. The B.C. Highway Patrol officer chose to pull over immediately to prevent the young rider from harming himself or someone else,” the statement from police said. Authorities asked anyone who recognized the teen in the video to contact them, despite his face being blurred to comply with a law that prohibits identifying young offenders. B.C. Highway Patrol spokesperson Sgt. Michael McLaughlin also made an appeal to parents. “We’re seeing an increasing number of young riders who attempt to bait police into a pursuit. This is stupid,” he wrote, in the statement. “Police are trying to keep everyone safe, and we need parents to start helping us out so we can prevent their kids from hurting themselves, or worse.” Guardians can be fined for allowing a young person to operate these devices illegally, and McLaughlin warned parents against buying them for their kids in the first place. “Your children might ‘promise’ to ride their machines responsibly and keep off public roads, but that’s not what’s happening,” he wrote.
