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Dirt devils busted

Cops crack down on ATVs and bikers

By SEAN CONLON and TINA MOORE

Cops swept 175 dirt bikes and ATVs off Big Apple streets over the weekend, arresting dozens of riders and writing hundreds of summonses.

The massive seizure was announced on Twitter Monday by NYPD Police Commissioner Dermot Shea.

Police also said they arrested 30 riders and wrote summonses for 374 operators.

The crackdown comes in the wake of a hit-and-run that left a 4-year-old boy critically injured when a rider on a gas-powered scooter slammed into him in a Queens park last week.

The boy was flung into the air, suffering severe head trauma, a broken ankle and bruises to his liver and lungs, his stepmother said. The rider fled the scene, but was arrested several days later.

“Why would you flee a scene on a 4-year old?” said Chris Beauchamps, whose son, Jonathan, remains hospitalized.

“How can you hold the guilt inside you and watch this on the news and see a 4-year old that you hit?”

Argenis Rivas, 29, was charged and allegedly admitted to mowing down the little boy.

“No parent should have to endure such a senseless act,” said Kim Royster, the NYPD’s chief of transportation.

Since April 20, 651 ATVs and dirt bikes have been confiscated from their owners, police said. They were unable to provide comparable data for prior years.

Democratic mayoral nominee Eric Adams slammed the use of ATVs on Monday, claiming the Big Apple has “become a place where lawlessness is the norm.”

Adams, who faces Republican challenger Curtis Sliwa in November’s general election, pointed to problems with illegal dirt bikes on the streets as just one symptom of a city in decline.

“We need to stop the illegal use of ATVs, dirt bikes, and all the other forms of two-wheelers that are moving around our city in a very dangerous environment, up and down the sidewalk, racing in the streets,” he said.

“This is just unacceptable. And I don’t believe the hands-off approach is the right way to do it,” he continued, adding that there should be units designated to taking the illegal vehicles off the streets.

We need to stop the illegal use of ATVs . . . that are moving around our city in a very dangerous environment. — Eric Adams

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