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“I am appalled by what that group did,” said Tim Graber, 53, the SoCal chapter president of the Antique Motorcycle Club of America. “It was terrible that the (SUV) driver was so distraught that he ran over the biker.”

The incident took place on September 29 in Washington Heights, a New York City neighborhood. Video taken from one of the biker’s helmet cameras shows a pack of bikers surrounding an SUV, according to New York news source PIX 11. One of the bikers braked suddenly and slowed down, causing the vehicle driver to hit him. 

The driver, a father riding with his wife and two-year-old daughter, slowed down at first, but, following threats by the bikers, hit the gas. The driver hit three bikers as he took off, was followed, and ultimately pulled out of his car and beaten.

Although one of the motorcyclists claimed on Tuesday that the SUV driver could have avoided the violence with an apology, some Los Angeles motorcyclists disagree that the attack on the SUV driver was justified in any way.

Graber, who sells motorcycles and leads group tours along Route 66, said he is worried that incidents such as this lend a negative connotation on an already stereotyped culture.

“Most people don’t understand that this is a rogue club whose purpose is to intimidate,” he said. “Legitimate biker clubs have made efforts to get rid of the image of bikers from the 50s and 60s, like Hells Angels. This has set us back a bit.”

So far, five bikers face charges, including two undercover cops, who did not participate in the assault but were believed to be on the ride with the bikers.

Graber said he now feels like he has worry about aggressive cars since the violence in New York and exercise more vigilance when he’s out riding his motorcycle, which will make his rides, “not as enjoyable.”

Fellow California motorcyclist Barry Sulking, Treasurer of the Birmingham Small Arms Company,which manufactures motorcycles, agrees that the attack on the SUV driver was unjustified, but said he is unconcerned about how it will affect the chopper community as a whole.

“It’ll blow over. One incident popping up is not going to change anything,” Sulking said.

The New York motorcycle gang is just one example of a nationwide trend, according to NBC, in which cyclists take videos of themselves performing tricks on crowded streets and harassing police and motorists and posting the footage on YouTube. But a spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) said he has not heard of any cases of this kind in Los Angeles. 

Reach Staff Reporter Anne Artley here.