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OGDEN -- Bikers with a group known as Critical Mass met for hours Monday morning with Ogden City leaders and police after their monthly ride Friday was disrupted by a Weber County sheriff's detective and a Utah Highway Patrol trooper.
"It was good to see that Ogden City took a defined interest in the happenings of Friday evening," says Matt Hasenyager, who was riding with the group.
The detective and trooper were in the area of 24th Street and Lincoln when they say they saw two bikers stop traffic in the intersection while escorting a motorcade of bikes through a red light.
The officers asked the two bikers to come over and talk to them. One did, the other did not. That's when Ogden police investigators say the deputy started pursuing the second biker and tackled him off his bike. Four people were arrested for disorderly conduct, failure to disperse and public intoxication.
"They need to follow all state laws, traffic laws, regulations and city ordinances. They just can't take control of the roadways," said Ogden police Lt. Scott Conley. "There needs to be some ownership of the acts that take place."
Bikers are especially taking issue with the tackling of one of their own. They're hoping for some kind of resolution related to that.
"Had [the detective] approached it from a different stance, I don't believe there would have been an incident of this magnitude at all," Hasenyager said.
Earlier, a woman was driving near 23rd Street and Grant, when she was surrounded by bikers and unable to drive through a green light. Police say she honked, and bikers responded with gestures, obscenities and a drink in the face. When the woman did pull forward, officers say she bumped one of the bikes. Bikers told police they wanted her charged with aggravated assault.
Hasenyager says the group is sorry for any disorderly conduct along the way, but he says that conduct is the action of a few in the group--nothing the group condones.
E-mail: aadams@ksl.com
