Beaufort County man tries dirt bike tricks, crashes into officer’s SUV

A speeding dirt bike display in northern Beaufort County ended with a man in jail Thursday.

A Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office deputy parked off Keans Neck Road near Dale watched as three men on dirt bikes sped toward him on the sidewalk at about 60 mph on Thursday afternoon, the deputy wrote in a report. The men slowed when they saw the deputy’s SUV, circled in the street and then sped past the patrol vehicle popping wheelies, the report said.

The deputy turned on his siren and gave chase.

When one of the bikes slowed and made an abrupt U-turn, the deputy stopped the SUV in the middle of the road. The rider tried to drive between the SUV and side of the road, but his bike tire fishtailed and rider lost balance, the report said. The bike hit the front bumper of the Sheriff’s Office vehicle and the man fell into the ditch.

The man told the deputy the riders hadn’t realized he was a cop and said he was turning around to talk to the officer when he crashed the bike. The man wasn’t hurt, he told the deputy.

A 28-year-old Dale man was arrested and charged with reckless driving, a misdemeanor punishable by up to 30 days in jail or a fine. He was released Friday afternoon.

The Beaufort Gazette and The Island Packet don’t typically identify those charged with misdemeanor offenses.

This story was originally published January 26, 2018 at 3:08 PM with the headline "Beaufort County man tries dirt bike tricks, crashes into officer’s SUV."