Pittsburgh-area parents charged after teen riding dirt bike on road crashes into car
A 13-year-old boy's parents are facing criminal charges after he crashed a dirt bike into a car in Washington County.
Police said the electric dirt bike wasn't street legal. It had no registration, no insurance and no business being on the road. Investigators say the teen rode nearly half a mile, crossing busy roads, before failing to stop and slamming into a vehicle in Canton Township.
"We cannot have the children in our neighborhood operating vehicles on the roadway when they have not went through the required licensing process. It's dangerous to them, it's dangerous to the community," said Greene Washington Regional Police Department Chief William DeForte.
Under Pennsylvania law, parents can face charges if they knowingly allow a child to engage in dangerous or illegal behavior. Chief DeForte says that's exactly what happened to Andrew and Ashley MacBeth.
"The parents knew he was operating a motorized vehicle on the roadways and they gave him permission," DeForte said.
The driver involved says he's glad charges were filed, calling it dangerous for a child to be riding an electric bike in traffic with cars.
DeForte says this isn't the only warning sign. Just a year ago, at the intersection of Chestnut and Washington streets, 16-year-old Jonathan Gillespie Jr. was riding an electric dirt bike when he was hit by a vehicle and later died from his injuries.
"One that resulted in a death, this one in particular resulted in a hospitalization. Number 3 isn't an if, but a when, and we want to nip this in the bud," DeForte said.
This case could mark a shift in which accountability doesn't stop with the child but falls to the adults who allowed it.
"We can't have parents condoning the operation of these unsafe and illegal vehicles on our roadways," DeForte said.
Both parents are now facing multiple charges, including endangering the welfare of a child. KDKA went to the MacBeths' home on Tuesday, but no one answered the door.
