![\"Hundreds](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/hundreds-illegal-mopeds-seized-nypd-127656610.jpg\")
More than 200 illegal mopeds and scooters seized by the NYPD were crushed Wednesday in Staten Island. NY Post\/Kevin Sheehan<\/p>\nWhat a crushing experience.<\/p>\n
More than 200 illegal mopeds and scooters were smashed under a bulldozer\u2019s treads Wednesday as a warning to scofflaws who don\u2019t register their rides \u2014 and often use them to commit crimes.<\/p>\n
The so-called \u201ccrush\u201d at a sanitation department garage in Staten Island accounted for just a fraction of the 5,700 illegal mopeds and scooters NYPD officers have seized so far this year, said police Commissioner Jessica Tisch.<\/p>\n
Those seizures are up nearly 10% from the same time last year, Tisch touted.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese illegal mopeds and scooters have become a persistent public safety issue across the city, and are often used in the commission of a crime,\u201d she said before a bulldozer ran back-and-forth over the multi-colored conveyances, cracking their cheap plastic and metal frames.<\/p>\n
More than 200 illegal mopeds and scooters seized by the NYPD were crushed Wednesday in Staten Island. NY Post\/Kevin Sheehan<\/p>\n
Mopeds are legal in the Big Apple, but only if they\u2019re properly registered, insured and their owners are licensed \u2014 steps that far too many don\u2019t take.<\/p>\n
Swarms of illegal mopeds \u2014 including some ridden by snatch-and-grab migrant gangs <\/a>\u2014 began to clog city streets and terrorize New Yorkers, prompting successive crackdowns under former mayor Eric Adams.<\/p>\n The seizures \u2014 followed by semi-regular crushes \u2014 have continued under Mayor Zohran Mamdani as crooks apparently haven\u2019t got the message.<\/p>\n Tisch pointed out that the two suspects in the stray-bullet shooting death of 7-month-old Kaori Patterson-Moore<\/a> used an illegal moped <\/a>in the crime,<\/p>\n The pair sped off going the wrong direction on a one-way street, crashing head-on into an oncoming vehicle.<\/p>\n Tisch joined other top city officials to watch Department of Sanitation workers conduct the crush. <\/p>\n The mopeds and scooters were seized by cops from all five boroughs, officials said.<\/p>\n \u201cFor those who want to recklessly use their these vehicles across the city but especially on Staten island, you will be brought to justice and your vehicles will be confiscated,\u201d said Vito Fossella, borough president of Staten Island. <\/p>\n \u201cThere is a zero tolerance for that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What a crushing experience. More than 200 illegal mopeds and scooters were smashed under a bulldozer\u2019s treads Wednesday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":230270,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[8991,5302,57,9,24,63,103,134,136,135,58],"class_list":["post-230269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-staten-island","tag-department-of-sanitation","tag-jessica-tisch","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-nypd","tag-staten-island","tag-staten-island-headlines","tag-staten-island-news","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=230269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230269\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/230270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=230269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=230269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=230269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Hundreds](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/hundreds-illegal-mopeds-seized-nypd-127656614.jpg\")
The scooters were seized across the five boroughs. NY Post\/Kevin Sheehan<\/p>\n