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The LaGrange Police Department has responded to social media posts that it says inaccurately described an April 17 incident involving dirt bikes on Whitesville Road.

According to a LPD press release, around 10:30 p.m. on Saturday, a LPD patrol officer was monitoring the roadways in the 800 block of Whitesville Road when at least five dirt bike riders passed him. Several of the riders popped wheelies and weaved around other vehicles, heading northbound at excessive streets on Whitesville Road.

The officer steered onto the road, then within seconds, saw one of the riders, a 17-year-old from Lanett, had crashed on the roadway, according to the press release. Within a few seconds, a second motorcycle was also found lying further north on Whitesville Road and its driver, a 17-year-old from West Point, was seen crawling out of the roadway to the curb. Davison was transported to Wellstar West Georgia Medical Center and airlifted to a hospital in Atlanta. According to LPD, he was uncooperative as LPD officers attempted to gather information.

The LPD said in the press release that it’s unclear if the two dirt bikes had collided into one another or if the riders had wrecked independently of one another. There is no evidence to indicate that a third vehicle was involved in the collision.

Charges are pending for reckless driving, unregistered vehicle, operating vehicle without proper license, insurance requirement, headlight / taillight requirements, riding motorcycle without helmet.

“Inaccurate information has been posted on social media reporting that the LaGrange Police Officer intentionally struck the motorcycle with his patrol vehicle,” the LPD said in the press release. “Video evidence clearly contradicts this allegation. In fact, the officer stopped and rendered aid to the individual that was recklessly operating a motorcycle and called for Emergency Medical Services, while the other bike riders he accompanied left him in the lying in the street.”

The LPD said it has seen a steady increase in the individuals illegally riding motorcycles and four-wheelers on LaGrange streets.

“These illegal riders continue to increase their often high speed reckless driving, often weaving in and out of legitimate vehicle traffic and completely disregarding safety for other drivers and themselves,” the press release said. “Many of these offenders commonly flaunt their illegal activity in front of and around our LaGrange police officers, seeming to taunt the officers into chasing them.”

The LPD encouraged the community to help officers catch people riding off-road motorcycles on its streets.

“The illegal riders of these off-road motorcycles on our public roadways are a menace to the safety of our local streets and the LaGrange Police Department calls upon our community partners to aid in identifying each of them so that they can be stopped and held accountable for their reckless conduct,” the LPD wrote.