By Nigel Chiwaya
WASHINGTON HEIGHTS — They're back.
A group of dirt bike riders were caught on video stopping traffic on a busy Washington Heights street Sunday afternoon, just blocks from a police precinct stationhouse, and not far from where a gang of bikers were filmed beating an SUV driver and menacing his family last fall.
According to witnesses and videos of Sunday's incident uploaded to YouTube, a dozen bikers and ATV riders blocked traffic on Broadway and 190th Street in order to perform a series of stunts while rows of cars and guests at the nearby R.G. Ortiz funeral home looked on.
In one video, a biker can been seen at the 1:12 mark losing control of a wheelie before jumping off his bike, which smacks into the back of a white minivan.
"This was really ballsy for them," said resident Jon-Marc McDonald, who recorded one video from his apartment overlooking Broadway. "The 34th Precinct [Stationhouse] is right down the street."
McDonald, 37, added that the bikers were finally scared off by a police car that drove past them, sending them scattering from the street.
"They didn't budge for anything [else]," McDonald said, adding that while bikers have long been a nuisance in the area, Sunday's incident was only the second time the area has seen a large biker gathering since the attack on SUV driver Alexian Lien.
"I don't see how anyone can look at the video and say that these guys were trying to do anything but cause havoc," he added.
Sunday's incident occurred about 12 blocks north of the site where a gang motorcyclists beat Lien on Sept. 29 after chasing him and his wife and daughter up the Henry Hudson Parkway and onto 178th Street and Wadsworth Avenue. Dozens of bikers, including six NYPD officers, were arrested in connection with the attack.
State Senator Adriano Espaillat introduced several pieces of legislation in the wake of the Lien attack, including bills that would make it illegal for bikers to perform wheelies in public.