Rogue rider charged with list of offences

(CNS): A 21-year-old-man found himself in police lock-up for most of the holiday weekend following his arrest on Saturday afternoon for a catalog of crimes, from stealing a motorbike to resisting arrest, after officers in the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service chopper spotted him and another rider performing stunts on the Esterley Tibbetts Highway. Police said that just after 4:20pm on 10 November they responded to several reports of two men on motorbikes riding erratically. 

The riders were headed towards West Bay when the RCIPS helicopter crew located them and began following the rogue riders,  signalling for them to stop. But the riders failed to heed the police signals and separated as they entered West Bay.

The Air Operations Unit continued to follow one of the riders on a red-and-black motorcycle. He was later intercepted by patrol officers in cars, who also signalled for him to stop using lights and sirens, but he continued to ignore police instructions, as he carried on riding dangerously and using his mobile phone at the same time, police said.

Police said he eventually abandoned the motorbike in the Boatswain Bay area of West Bay and ran into a nearby store. Officers followed and said they were met with aggression from the rider, who attempted to resist arrest.

He was arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving, failing to stop, driving without being qualified, driving without insurance and resisting arrest. But when the police also found that the motorcycle, which was seized by officers, was stolen in August 2018, he was also arrested on suspicion of theft.

He was later charged with eight offences: dangerous driving (manner), riding without insurance, riding without being qualified, using a motorcycle without a certificate of roadworthiness, failing to comply with signals given by a constable, failing to display licence plate, resisting a police officer and handling stolen goods.

The man was expected in court Tuesday.