http://www.al.com/news/press-register/index.ssf?/base/news/1219050956270500.xml&coll=3
Bikers going 140+ busted
Monday, August 18, 2008
By RYAN DEZEMBER
Staff Reporter
A dozen motorcyclists were arrested midday Sunday after the pack was clocked hurtling along Interstate 10 at over 140 mph, said Cpl. Joe Piggott, a state trooper spokesman.
A trooper first spotted the cyclists speeding by westbound traffic at about 100 mph at milepost 55, which is about 11 miles east of the Florida state line, at about 10:45 a.m., Piggott said. Unable to pursue the cyclists because they were going so fast, the trooper radioed ahead to a colleague posted about 20 miles to the west.
When they passed the second trooper between the Daphne and Malbis exits, the cyclists, riding high-performance sports motorcycles, had sped up to over 140 mph. That trooper gave chase and a third trooper ahead in a Dodge Charger stopped traffic on the Bayway to force the cyclists to stop.
"There was no incident or anything," Piggott said. "They just pulled off.
"They're not bad guys, they just drive with complete disregard for anyone on the highway and then when you get more than two or three, then you get a pack mentality."
Both westbound lanes on the Bayway remained closed for a few minutes before one was opened while troopers wrote citations and worked to get the motorcycles towed off the highway, Piggott said. By about 1:15 p.m. both lanes had been reopened, he said.
Each of the riders — 11 men and one woman, ranging in age from their early 20s to early 40s — were given tickets charging them with speeding and reckless endangerment and were taken to Baldwin County Corrections Center in Bay Minette, Piggott said.
Everyone arrested was from northwest Florida, according to police, and many were stationed at area military bases.
They were: Keith Edward Cole, 39; Arthur Lee Jones, 41; Derrick Alan Lawrence, 25; Andy Michael Galatas, 22; Kip Ryan Lewis, 40; Terry Lynn Moore, 40; William Latron Green, 34; Derrick Cortez Clay, 30; Rachel L. Robertson, 33; Paul Burney Johnson, 38, ; Kristoffer Edwin Davoud Ford, 23; and Tyrice A. Thomas, 30.
Besides three state troopers, sheriff's deputies from Baldwin and Mobile counties aided in the arrests.
The timing of the incident coincides with trooper's planning to restart their "Take Back Our Highways" initiative this morning with a week of aggressive efforts to increase public awareness about bad driving habits and stepped up enforcement of traffic laws.