atv rider killed by ranger in NJ please read!!!

[wolfguy]

Recently a man and his friends were chased by park rangers in one of the North Jersey Sate parks. All the facts and details cannot be confirmed but what we do know is that a confrontation occurred between a group of riders and one or more park rangers. the confrontation led to an atv rider being shot 3 times by a ranger and a few days later died as a result of his wounds. All kinds of s*%t has hit the fan now. The family of the ATV rider has hired a bigshot lawyer from the OJ Simpson team and you can bet this will not be kept quiet, they are going after the rangers and anyone else that can be blamed. Aside from that there has and will more commonly be 3 players in this fiasco. 1 the EPA who are dead set against ATV riding 2 state government and anyone else politically involved who is basically trying to get ATV's banned completely in NJ and 3 representatives of New Jersey Off Road Vehicle Association and ATV supporters.
Before this incident it has been very difficult if not stressful to ride anywhere in NJ. For those of you who are not from NJ or not familiar with the state, we are horribly overpopulated here. Businesses strip malls and houses have been crammed into any spot possible stripping land that we once rode on. Taxes insurance and general living costs are ridiculous. For example $700000 will buy a cardboad box in an alley way and you'll easily pay $10000 a year in taxes. the laws in this state have become very strict, if caught by cops or rangers a slew of tickets and ATV impound results as well as possible suspension of liscense. very few of us own enough property to ride on so we all take huge risks when doing what we love. the EPA is screaming because the places we're left with are basically animal reserves and swamps which apparently we're killing all sorts of endangered tadpoles when riding through small puddles and mud bogs. I don't know much about environment so I'll take thier word for it. On top of all that if any homeowner catches you riding on the property he'll come hootin and hollerin after you because if anyone gets hurt riding on another property our horrible insurance companies will sue the homeowner. I can't blame them either. the only legal place to ride in NJ is in South jersey about 3 hours from me. it's a stripped sand quarry with about 100 acres and is run by the NJORVP, which is going to close in 2008.

This incident with the guy being shot is pretty intense but may work to our advantage. For one, cops aren't going to bother us as much for a while, and hopefully the government, public and EPA's eyes will be opened to our needs. So far everyone's solution has been to ban riders, perhaps this will let them open up new riding spots.
Everyone keep your eyes open in the news for the the developement of this situation and I will keep you posted with what's to come.

[nouseforaname90]

Thats just ridiculous. A ranger SHOT a guy for riding an ATV? What.. the guy wouldn't comply and leave the area or the guy wouldn't give up his ATV to be impounded? Thats completely ridiculous..

[Infinity Cycle Supply LLC.]

Recently a man and his friends were chased by park rangers in one of the North Jersey Sate parks. All the facts and details cannot be confirmed but what we do know is that a confrontation occurred between a group of riders and one or more park rangers. the confrontation led to an atv rider being shot 3 times by a ranger and a few days later died as a result of his wounds. All kinds of s*%t has hit the fan now. The family of the ATV rider has hired a bigshot lawyer from the OJ Simpson team and you can bet this will not be kept quiet, they are going after the rangers and anyone else that can be blamed. Aside from that there has and will more commonly be 3 players in this fiasco. 1 the EPA who are dead set against ATV riding 2 state government and anyone else politically involved who is basically trying to get ATV's banned completely in NJ and 3 representatives of New Jersey Off Road Vehicle Association and ATV supporters.
Before this incident it has been very difficult if not stressful to ride anywhere in NJ. For those of you who are not from NJ or not familiar with the state, we are horribly overpopulated here. Businesses strip malls and houses have been crammed into any spot possible stripping land that we once rode on. Taxes insurance and general living costs are ridiculous. For example $700000 will buy a cardboad box in an alley way and you'll easily pay $10000 a year in taxes. the laws in this state have become very strict, if caught by cops or rangers a slew of tickets and ATV impound results as well as possible suspension of liscense. very few of us own enough property to ride on so we all take huge risks when doing what we love. the EPA is screaming because the places we're left with are basically animal reserves and swamps which apparently we're killing all sorts of endangered tadpoles when riding through small puddles and mud bogs. I don't know much about environment so I'll take thier word for it. On top of all that if any homeowner catches you riding on the property he'll come hootin and hollerin after you because if anyone gets hurt riding on another property our horrible insurance companies will sue the homeowner. I can't blame them either. the only legal place to ride in NJ is in South jersey about 3 hours from me. it's a stripped sand quarry with about 100 acres and is run by the NJORVP, which is going to close in 2008.

This incident with the guy being shot is pretty intense but may work to our advantage. For one, cops aren't going to bother us as much for a while, and hopefully the government, public and EPA's eyes will be opened to our needs. So far everyone's solution has been to ban riders, perhaps this will let them open up new riding spots.
Everyone keep your eyes open in the news for the the developement of this situation and I will keep you posted with what's to come.

I mean to speak no wrongful words but would you not have to be doing somehting rather wrong other than riding to get shot by a ranger. By all means if you were just riding in the woods they would not shoot you would they???

[wolfguy]

The details of this whole thing are very vague and I am sorry i can't give any more facts. It is possible the rider charged the ranger, it is also possible the ranger opened fire. Nonetheless, the facts are the rider got shot 3 times and later died!! Even if he charged the ranger was this necessary??? The whole thing is insane.

[Infinity Cycle Supply LLC.]

The details of this whole thing are very vague and I am sorry i can't give any more facts. It is possible the rider charged the ranger, it is also possible the ranger opened fire. Nonetheless, the facts are the rider got shot 3 times and later died!! Even if he charged the ranger was this necessary??? The whole thing is insane.

If he charged the ranger yes it is understandable to me to a point. The fact he died is horrible, but atv or not if you were pulled over for driving your car in state police property and you drove your car at a trooper what would you expect from him

[wolfguy]

we'll get all the details when this unfolds in court. I doubt that a big shot lawyer would take this case if the rider was doing something to provoke the cop to shoot. I have a feeling the ranger overreacted but we'll see, I can only assume from the facts given.......

[Infinity Cycle Supply LLC.]

we'll get all the details when this unfolds in court. I doubt that a big shot lawyer would take this case if the rider was doing something to provoke the cop to shoot. I have a feeling the ranger overreacted but we'll see, I can only assume from the facts given.......

any big shot lawyer will take a sceptical case is there is the police and a shooting and large money a lawyer will take anycase with money. Godbless the one who has passed, and I hope everybody gets what they deserve. None the less if he was illegally riding then hey.

[Vealmonkey]

What I find insane is the fact that anyone would think that when someone is shot and killed that it would have any kind of advantage or leverage to make anything happen. It that were the case, you would think there would no longer be any troops overseas and we know that is not the case. The fact that anyone was shot and killed is tragic. I'm sure there is much more to this than meets the eye. I would forsee a negative event happen from this. I don't think a Park Ranger would kill someone in cold blood over nothing. Now atv'ers will be reflected in a bad light as to be some kind of hoodlums that federal officials will have to defend themselves against. If one Park Ranger had to defend his life, others will have to do the same. I hate to be negative, but I don't see anything positive coming of this whole event.

[250r'en +TCB]

The guy must have pulled a weapon or something, he had to have!!! Unless the laws are differnt in NJ and they can exacute you for reasonable suspision hahaha! Guilty until proven innocent just like in the communist governments! hahaha

[ScottZJ]

Sounds like people need to start boycoting NJ and just move away. I think if enough people did that then they might think something is obviously wrong here. That is sad to hear about too. My prayers are with the family and friends.

[Howdy]

we'll get all the details when this unfolds in court. I doubt that a big shot lawyer would take this case if the rider was doing something to provoke the cop to shoot. I have a feeling the ranger overreacted but we'll see, I can only assume from the facts given.......

They took OJ's case didn't they? They was able to get a lot of the evidence thrown out and he walked free. Truth is Money talks and the laywers are always listening. I honestly think we should send more of them quail hunting with Dick Chenney. lol

What I find insane is the fact that anyone would think that when someone is shot and killed that it would have any kind of advantage or leverage to make anything happen. It that were the case, you would think there would no longer be any troops overseas and we know that is not the case. The fact that anyone was shot and killed is tragic. I'm sure there is much more to this than meets the eye. I would forsee a negative event happen from this. I don't think a Park Ranger would kill someone in cold blood over nothing. Now atv'ers will be reflected in a bad light as to be some kind of hoodlums that federal officials will have to defend themselves against. If one Park Ranger had to defend his life, others will have to do the same. I hate to be negative, but I don't see anything positive coming of this whole event.

Vealmonkey, I agree here 100%. I can't see ANYTHING good coming out of this.

I am not jumping on either side here. I do feel sorry for all the family's involved.
Howdy

[wolfguy]

The only good thing I can hope coming from this is that if EPA and Governments only solution is to ban riding completely and ignore the fact that thousands or people in jersey own ATV's, that more incidences like this will happen which is what we all want to avoid. There is so much anger and hostility between people right now that situations like this will only keep occurring. If riders are given specified areas to ride there will be no more confrontation. I am hoping that this incident will give them an alternative solution and finally start to work on opening more ATV parks. OR it could go the other way and nobody will ever ride in jersey again. I can only be optomistic for fear of losing the hobby I love.

[jsimonh]

I think that there is not enough info yet to make a sound decision.
I do think no matter what happened, having a man killed who was on an atv is not going to help open more areas in anyway. I think it would just feed the beast in NJ to get more atv areas banned.

[250rAL]

This was on ATVRIDERS.com a couple of weeks ago. There's a lot more to the story. The area where the incident took place is apparently a hotbed for illegal activity. We're talking gang activity,drugs and meth production. IIRC, there were two rangers and they were attacked by a group of people that they came upon in the wilderness. They were probably doing drugs or making meth. Anyway the rangers were outnumbered and feared for their lives and one of them was even bitten.

[wolfguy]

holy crap I didn't know about this!! I have'nt seen any of this in the papers