Middle Village motorcycle gathering renews call for an NYPD street takeover unit

Councilman Phil Wong of Queens is again pressing for an NYPD unit devoted entirely to street takeovers after a group of motorcycles gathered near 69th Street and Eliot Avenue in Middle Village on Friday night.

Wong shared video of the riders online and called what it showed “nonsense.”

What happened at 69th Street and Eliot Avenue

According to the NYPD, a 911 caller reported the motorcycles at about 8:51 p.m. By the time officers pulled up, the riders were already leaving, the department said.

Wong said police got there within minutes, spotted the group as it rode off and broadcast the details across the city. Backup officers arrived as well, he said, but by then the riders had split up and gone.

The same stretch of Middle Village saw another takeover five months ago, when drivers spun their cars out on the street. Police made at least one arrest in that earlier case.

NYPD street takeover enforcement numbers

In a statement, the department said it “takes an aggressive approach to addressing car meetups” and pointed to its record for the year. Officers have answered 259 of these events so far in 2026, the NYPD said, and the enforcement has led to 167 arrests, with upward of 285 vehicles confiscated.

Rather than relying on one squad, the department said, it has several specialized units coordinate to find the gatherings, follow them and break them up, and it called the events dangerous. Wong wants that job handed to a single unit whose whole focus is street takeovers. He has made the request before, and Friday’s gathering prompted him to renew it.