Impounded motorized vehicles that were crushed in an event that took place behind the New Haven Police Academy on Sept. 19, 2025.
Greater New Haven officials including New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker, left, and North Haven First Selectman Michael Freda, second from left, watch as impounded motorized vehicles are crushed behind the New Haven Police Academy on Sept. 19, 2025.
Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, center, speaks at a news conference behind the New Haven Police Training Academy on April 1, 2025, to urge the passing of legislation targeting street takeovers, illegal use of dirt bikes and ATVs and reckless driving.
Seized dirt bikes photographed in a garage at the New Haven Police Department’s storage facility on July 31, 2025.
A seized ATV photographed in a garage at the New Haven Police Department’s storage facility on July 31, 2025.
Seized ATVs and dirt bikes photographed in a storage container at the New Haven Police Department’s storage facility on July 31, 2025.
Seized ATVs and dirt bikes photographed in a storage container at the New Haven Police Department’s storage facility on July 31, 2025.
Seized ATVs and dirt bikes photographed in a storage container at the New Haven Police Department’s storage facility on July 31, 2025.
Seized ATVs photographed in a storage container at the New Haven Police Department’s storage facility on July 31, 2025.
NEW HAVEN — For years, dirt bikes and ATVs seized by Greater New Haven police for illegally being ridden on the street have sat in storage containers behind the New Haven Police Academy. On Friday, officials lived out a dream of seeing them crushed into scrap metal.
"The message is clear: do not ride these things in New Haven," said New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker. "If we catch you, we will crush them."
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Elicker, North Haven First Selectman Michael Freda, police officials from New Haven, North Haven and Woodbridge and members of New Haven's Board of Alders and state delegation spoke with the press about the importance of sending a message to operators of street-illegal motorized recreational vehicles before feeding the first 10 of roughly 120 confiscated vehicles into a hydraulic press. 
The destruction of the seized vehicles comes as cities around the state and nation have wrestled with packs of unruly riders on dirt bikes, ATVs and other vehicles. The groups can range from one or two riders popping wheelies down a street to large-scale street takeovers, in which participants block off streets to do doughnuts and other stunts.
Those at Friday's event, representing a number of municipalities, emphasized the importance of collaboration between departments in making arrests and seizing vehicles. New Haven Police — one of 10 agencies, including Connecticut State Police — that are part of a regional dirt bike and ATV Task Force established in 2023 to combat the issue. The other municipalities involved in the task force are Guilford, Hamden, Naugatuck, North Haven, Orange, Wallingford, West Haven and Woodbridge.
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Freda noted that the drama of feeding expensive motorized vehicles into a machine to be crushed is critical to sending the message.
"The word 'crush' to me, as it relates to what we started a year ago," he said, balling his fist for emphasis, "it's a powerful symbol of what we're going to do to stop this."
Freda said Friday's crushing of the motorized vehicles was "the dream (becoming) a reality."
The event was made possible after a state law passed earlier this year allowing municipalities to destroy seized dirt bikes and ATVs. Elicker argued that selling the seized vehicles at auction would just put them back on the street, so the best solution was to destroy them. 
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New Haven and other municipalities also have introduced fines for gas stations that allow illegal dirt bike and ATV riders to fill up.
New Haven Police Chief Karl Jacobson said that, because there is a state law limiting the ability of police to pursue vehicles at high speeds, the department has made use of technology like cameras and drones as well as collaboration with other departments to provide the necessary manpower to shut down street takeover events.
Freda said he has personally been trapped in two street takeover events, and they are threatening to the public — often deliberately so.
"People were being pointed at, people were being bullied," he said. 
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State Rep. Al Paolillo said the state delegation took seriously concerns from the public about the menace caused by illegal motorized vehicles on city streets.
“We’re crushing, but we’re also crushing the fears and anxieties folks have every day,” he said.
It's not the first time city leaders in the region have turned to destroying seized bikes and ATVs. In New York City, crushing the seized vehicles with a bulldozer became an annual event for mayors, complete with a checkered flag to wave the start of the destruction.
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Brian Zahn is a reporter with the New Haven Register. Brian covers all things West Haven. Since September 2015, he has worked for the Register, where he has spent most of his time writing about schools and education.
Peter Yankowski is a breaking news reporter for Hearst Connecticut Media Group. He was previously a reporter for the Danbury News-Times and the Ridgefield Press.
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