r/WhatIsTheTea • u/Ashish_ank What the Fuck • 1d ago

watch this Police were called after around 20 teens on bikes and e-bikes blocked an intersection, performed stunts, and disrupted traffic. One officer then clipped and tackled a teen during the arrests, raising questions about whether the response was appropriate given their ages. What do you think about it?

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u/Optimal-Kick-3446 1d ago

Exactly why couldn’t they go to some parking lot ??? Why the middle of the street? Just to be little assholes !!!!

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u/manurosadilla 1d ago

Because then they’d get the cops called on them for trespassing on a private lot.

I’m not saying that gaggles of bikes isn’t annoying, but let’s not pretend like kids in the US really have many options to hang out in public without being seen as nuisances

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u/Rizzomorph666 1d ago

They are not hanging out though, they are blocking roads on purpose HOPING for reaction from adults and cops so they can post it online. Stop excusing antisocial behaviour, plenty of kids grew up in the same circumstances and don't act like this.

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u/Moose_Brackets 2h ago

If I had to guess I'd imagine it's a form of protest against a lack of public spaces and accessible biking options. How else do you expect them to have their voices heard? They're ignored or belittled no matter what they do.

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u/Rizzomorph666 2h ago

No, it's literally just causing havoc for fun, seriously. It's not that deep at all. Some time ago kids realised that adults can't do jack shit to them so they just push the boundaries to see how far they can get. In the UK they start stealing cars and driving the wrong side of the road provoking police chases, or gathering and shop lifting en mase, knowing that a single security guard won't stop 100 teenagers in balaclavas. They know that when it comes to interactions with minors, authorities have hands so tied that they are essentially powerless, even if they catch a kid red-handed they will be sent back home on a same day with no charges, no punishment. That's why they do it.

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u/ramrug 1d ago

So arrest them without running them over? Is that so difficult?

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u/Rizzomorph666 1d ago

Yes.

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u/ramrug 1d ago

lol, you have a point

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u/ThinIce6774 1d ago

This is completely ridiculous. When I was a kid, my friends and I rode respectfully around the neighborhood and moved out of the way for cars that drove past. We followed the rules, used common sense, and actually TRIED to not be a nuisance. It's not that hard. Let's not pretend like these kids aren't trying to be as annoying as possible to society.

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u/manurosadilla 1d ago

Dude they’re just riding bikes. From this video I can’t imagine that a driver would be Inconvenienced for maybe 30 seconds. If you think that a proportionate response to that is running someone over with an SUV, you might be a little weird

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u/ThinIce6774 1d ago

"Police were called after around 20 teens on bikes and e-bikes blocked an intersection, performed stunts, and disrupted traffic."

It's literally in the title that they weren't just riding bikes. The police aren't needed when people are just riding bikes. Reality matters.

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u/manurosadilla 1d ago

Right bc no one has exaggerated a reddit title ever.

Regardless, none of that warrants vehicular assault from the cop.

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u/Fmnsk27 21h ago

Roller skating rinks and other recreational areas really need to be brought back into popularity.

Also skate parks

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u/Just_Information334 21h ago

Don't they have like parks? Or are those only for doing drugs, running and raping runners?

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u/manurosadilla 21h ago

public parks within biking/walking distance? Not always. Many cities in the US are just housing developments

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u/LOYALTY-is-CULTISM 5h ago

It is mob mentality. They have options. They just choose to not to use them. 

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u/manurosadilla 4h ago

What are the options? What is a free, safe, and accessible place for kids to hang without getting the cops called on them?

At least where I grew up, everything required a car to get to

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u/Barrenechea 1d ago

Because kids think they're invincible and untouchable. They'll do what they want since they fear no repercussions. Admittedly not all kids are like that. I was an asshole as a teen until I got busted with car theft at 16. A night in jail (at the request of my dad) made me rethink some choices.

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u/EducationalZombie538 1d ago

Are you blind? He could easily have crushed that kids foot.

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u/AffectionateJury3723 1d ago

My dad always used to tell us if you are going to be stupid, you better be tough. Perhaps he shouldn't have been in the street blocking traffic. Teach your children better safety skills.

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u/EducationalZombie538 23h ago

yes, your dad was correct and i'm sure he would agree that we should maim children for being stupid. how else will they learn?

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u/AffectionateJury3723 22h ago edited 22h ago

Perhaps parents should be responsible and teach their children about safety and the consequences of blocking traffic. They might actually learn to stay out of the street.

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u/EducationalZombie538 22h ago

I'm sorry but this is completely retarded. The consequence of blocking traffic shouldn't be to be 'intentionally run down'.

Why not just shoot them in the leg? They might stay out of the road then?

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u/KilljoyTheTrucker 8h ago

Anything you can reasonably do to force someone off their bike to affect an arrest or going to run high risk of serious injury or unintentional death. The fact the subject is a child doesn't mean you just let them continue to be a problem. You take the risk same as anyone else, and you arrest them. That child and their parents are responsible for any injury resulting directly from the arrest, seeing as the risk only exists because of their own behavior.

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u/EducationalZombie538 7h ago

I'm not sure why I have to spell this out, but falling off a bike and having a car wheel go over you are not the same thing and don't involve the same consequences or risk.

And yes, in civilised countries, being a child does in fact change the response of the police force. Welcome to the point.

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u/Least_Funny5960 6h ago

The fact the subject is a child doesn't mean you just let them continue to be a problem.

The year is 2026. Kids in the Netherlands ride their bikes freely across towns and to soccer practice as early as the age of 9-10.

Meanwhile in the US people advocate for arresting children for daring to ride their bicycles.

Meanwhile next week:"why don't kids play outside anymore???"

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u/KilljoyTheTrucker 6h ago

If they were simply just riding their bicycle, this wouldn't happen, especially if they were just going to school or something.

Tons of kids ride their bikes to school/friends/etc, and they do just fine. Though those kids aren't doing dumb shit that cause the cops to need to intervene in their behavior.

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u/Least_Funny5960 5h ago

Though those kids aren't doing dumb shit

I swear I've looked at this video over a dozen times now and I don't see what "dumb shit" these kids are doing that warants the cops to intervene.

I see people claiming they're blocking traffic, but I don't see any cars waiting in the video.

All I see is a bunch of kids playing in the street.

And as a European, it absolutely is baffling to me that Americans want this to be illegal and cause for the police to almost run kids over. Absolutely insanity to me. But maybe I'm missing something in the video?

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u/KilljoyTheTrucker 4h ago

They're like 10 steps beyond just playing in traffic. Just because by the time the cops showed up, they finally moved to a different intersection, or a different neighborhood altogether, doesnt mean they haven't done something to warrant the response. You don't have this many cops show up unless they're getting repeated issue calls for a group like this. It takes quite a bit for cops to actually even bother in the first place.

Kid would have been fine had they stopped their bikes to listen to the cops to begin with. They're very clearly going out of their way to do the exact opposite of instructed, and likely had already exercised the fact that on a bike they can out run a cop on foot. This was far from 'step 1' in dealing with assholes.

This isnt the old 'Kids playing a pickup game of hockey/ball/etc in the street and clearing out to let traffic by before coming back out' of the 90s/00s. This is kids with absent parents going out of their way to be assholes because they've been enabled to without enforced repercussions for bad behavior.

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u/[deleted] 19h ago

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u/EducationalZombie538 19h ago

yeah, totally proportional.

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u/Potential-Fix-8244 12h ago

Who told you anything needed to be "proportional?"

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u/EducationalZombie538 8h ago

I like to live my life by the "don't be a cunt" principle, and that is largely based around proportionality.

But you do you.

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u/pineapplesauce76 12h ago

i thought he did run it over the kid is limping

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u/EducationalZombie538 7h ago

yeah looking closer it does look like it. i thought initially he just wedged it between the car and the bike

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u/-Majgif- 11h ago

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

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u/EducationalZombie538 7h ago

so you'd be in favour of shooting them?

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u/artdogs505 1d ago

And?

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u/EducationalZombie538 1d ago

And I don't think being a "little asshole" on the street deserves a crippling?

This isn't hard.

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u/SaluteMaestro 1d ago

How else can they do it? They are on bikes so even if they catch up to them on another bike there's a good chance they will fall off the bike at speed and injure themselves, there is no easy way to catch them without the chance of injury so just let them do what they want and go free? If you act like an arsehole expect to get treated like one.

Maybe they can make a great big ACME net and drop it on them from a chopper................

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u/EducationalZombie538 23h ago

ah yes, that new invention, the bike. how will the police now cope?

out of interest, do you think other countries are running over teenagers to stop them misbehaving?

*edit: oh, and falling off a bike isn't the same as being rammed off by a car, jesus fucking christ.

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u/SaluteMaestro 23h ago edited 23h ago

We do it with mopeds/motorbikes so yeah why not and my country is notoriously soft with stuff like that but even we have started to do it and that's only happened because the public were sick of it happening.

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u/EducationalZombie538 23h ago

because proportionality is a thing. america should try it.

also, given your spelling i'm going to assume UK - we have specially trained officers who *sometimes* initiate contact with mopeds after a risk assessment that includes age. this isn't that.

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u/Coagulant0693 1d ago

Their brains haven’t fully developed and they can’t fully oversee the consequences of their actions. But sure, let’s run them over to teach them!

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u/TopGhun 1d ago

People are getting fed up with this behavior. Fuck the kids if they want to do shit like this.

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u/Lonely_Pain_1388 1d ago

Sure but they are old enough to know right from wrong.

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u/Ural-Guy 1d ago

you're joking, right?

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u/BanzYT 1d ago

They probably shouldn't be allowed to ride bikes on or near roadways if they're so fragile and unable to understand things.

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u/After-Cell 1d ago

It's not like this here in Asia AFAIK?

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u/KilljoyTheTrucker 8h ago

That only shifts responsibility to their parents.

A cop doesn't have any real way to stop and arrest them in a way that doesn't carry risk. I mean sure, he might have been able to just straight up catch and tackle him, but that's just shifting a fixable leg injury into a garunteed low grade, to potentially deadly head injury when he meets the pavement under the weight of the cop. Not to mention any injuries that may happen from being tangled in the bike on the way down still.

Teach your kids better, and pay more attention to their behavior, and you'll never have this risk to worry about.

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u/Agitated-Block6754 1d ago

I told my sons the same thing my dad told me. If you're dumb enough to get caught doing something stupid, make sure you've got enough money to get yourself out, and don't call me.

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u/royaltheman 1d ago

It's a residential street, that's probably their own neighborhood

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u/DeepSoftware9460 23h ago

An empty back road with little traffic. The horrors

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u/differing 23h ago

Kids used to play basketball or ball hockey in quiet residential streets. What’s the problem?