By Michael V. Cusenza
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced on Friday the seizure of 95 scooters from the streets of Corona, Elmhurst, and Long Island City.
The crackdown is part of an ongoing joint operation involving the District Attorney’s office and local police precincts to address the persistent use of scooters in crimes such as drive-by shootings and robberies. A total of 412 scooters have been removed since the start of the joint operation in February.
Detectives from the District Attorney’s Office, working with officers from the City Police Department’s 110th and 114th precincts, searched five locations in Elmhurst, Corona and Long Island City overnight Wednesday into Thursday, May 9. Of the 95 scooters confiscated, all were parked illegally and 71 were unregistered and uninsured.
The use of an illegal scooter to commit a crime garnered headlines last year when a Brooklyn man was charged in a 14-count indictment after allegedly randomly firing from a motorbike at pedestrians and a fellow motorist during a shooting spree in Queens that left an 86-year-old man dead and two others wounded.
According to the charges, on July 8, 2023, at approximately 11:26 a.m., Thomas Abreu was seen on video surveillance cameras and by an eyewitness on 108th Street and Jamaica Avenue in Richmond Hill riding a scooter and wearing a green shirt and with a fanny pack on his shoulder. He approached Hamod Saeidi, 86, and shot him in the back. Saeidi was rushed to a hospital where he later died.
At approximately the same time and at the same location, Abreu, 26, still riding a scooter, fired at two pedestrians, one walking a dog on the sidewalk and at another crossing the street. Neither was struck. Moments later, video surveillance showed Abreu on 126th Street and Hillside Avenue. He pulled up his scooter next to a parked minivan and shot the driver at close range once in the head. The victim was taken to a hospital and survived.
Abreu was observed on video surveillance riding his scooter on 134th Street and Jamaica Avenue. He approached a pedestrian crossing the street and shot the victim in the shoulder. The victim was treated at a local hospital and released.
At approximately 1 p.m., Abreu was arrested after NYPD officers saw him at Sutphin Boulevard and Archer Avenue riding his scooter. Police recovered a loaded pistol with an extended magazine, as well as a fanny pack containing additional ammunition.
“Unregistered scooters are not only illegal, but they are also being used to commit violent crimes, including shootings and robberies, without any accountability or ability to identify the culprit. Through our proactive enforcement efforts in collaboration with the NYPD, we have taken more than 400 of these illegal vehicles off our streets, enhancing safety and security for our communities,” Katz said. “Our proactive enforcement efforts will continue to ensure compliance and eradicate the public threat they pose.”
Additional operations are planned in Queens as part of an enforcement effort to get illegal motorized scooters off the road.
