People living near Black Mountain Boulevard and Deer Valley Drive say a man riding a bright green street bike has been terrorizing them for months.
After ABC15 brought light to the ongoing situation Tuesday, a neighborhood officer reported that the man was caught.
“He’s talented but he’s disrupting our neighborhoods,” said a woman who asked we only use her first name, Janell, and lives in the nearby Fireside community. “We just want him to stop somehow — we don’t know what our recourse is."
Janell and other neighbors told ABC15 the man, who rides a Kawasaki Ninja bike, has been seen and heard in the area as early as 2 a.m. passing by Pinnacle High School, merging on State Route 51 and returning to the area.
Witnesses captured photos and videos of the man appearing to perform a prolonged wheelie and run a red light.
“It’s very bold and it’s dangerous,” said Laura Richards, another neighbor who’s been woken by the biker “countless” times.
“I just want some peace and quiet back in my neighborhood,” she said.
Since June, Richards and Janell both said they called Phoenix police multiple times to report the biker. They were concerned he or someone else would get hurt.
According to a Nextdoor post by a neighborhood police officer Wednesday, officers were able to identify and locate the 18-year-old biker. He also reportedly received a traffic citation days ago.
"Your officers made an educational contact and impressed upon him that his actions have not gone unnoticed by the community. He even admitted to seeing himself on the news and informed officers we would not be seeing him on his motorcycle again," the officer wrote on Nextdoor, saying police are confident the situation has been resolved.
According to Sgt. Vince Lewis, a Phoenix police spokesman, Phoenix residents dealing with a problem motorist should call Crime Stop at (602) 262-6151 and speeding concerns can be reported at (602) 534-SPEED.
