Kids On E-Bikes Chased Driver, Threw Items, Fled Police In Downers Grove: Police

DOWNERS GROVE, IL — Four e-bike riders chased drivers, surrounded a car, threw items and fled police, according to Downers Grove police. The incidents come as the village board prepares to vote on an ordinance regulating the use of e-bikes and e-scooters.

Police were called to the 5800 block of Dunham Road around 7 p.m. Sept. 26 for a report that a driver was being chased by four children riding e-bikes. When officers got to the scene, they saw "four e-bikes fleeing the area," according to a police report.

The driver told police she had been heading south of Main Street and encountered the e-bike riders blocking westbound Maple as she attempted to turn on to the road. According to police, the driver asked the riders to move so she could pass.

Police say the kids then surrounded the woman's car and started to shout insults and profanity at her. As she tried to drive away, an e-bike rider wearing a white sweatshirt knocked off her driver's side mirror, per the police report.

After the woman drove off, the e-bike riders followed her to the 5800 block of Dunham and fled when police arrived.

Around 10:15 p.m., police got another call involving four e-bike riders at McCullom Park. A security guard told police he advised the juveniles that they were not permitted to ride in the park, at which time they started to shout profanities at him.

He told police the e-bike riders threw items at him and pushed his side mirror after he got back into his call.

Police got to the scene to find four e-bike riders, one of whom matched the earlier description of the e-bike rider wearing a white sweatshirt. The riders "yelled profanities and tried to get a reaction," a police report said, before fleeing the scene via a bike trail.

In early September, a driver reported that e-bike riders smashed their window after driving close to their car near the intersection of Fairmount and 75th.

Downers Grove trustees are set to have a first reading Tuesday of an ordinance regulating e-bikes and e-scooters in the village.