The officers saw a large group of dirt bikes and four-wheelers in the wooded area, with one dirt bike on an adjacent path close to the officers.
“Trenton’s officers presented themselves and commanded the rider to stop; however, the rider changed direction and drove directly at the officers, striking both and knocking them to the ground before fleeing the area in a northerly direction,” police said.
The Butler County Sheriff’s Office and Middletown Division of Police responded immediately to assist Trenton police.
Deputies initiated a pursuit of two unlicensed dirt bikes on Ohio 122. The first suspect was apprehended on Carmody Boulevard.
The second suspect fled on to the railroad tracks at Trenton-Franklin Road and Ohio 122. Trenton police used a drone and were able to find the second suspect trying to hide in the woods by covering his dirt bike with foliage.
Butler County Sheriff Chief Deputy Anthony Dwyer said off road vehicles in the wooded area along the Great Miami River have been a problem for years, “even back in the days when I was on patrol.”
“Riding on the trestle, which the railroad owns can be very dangerous,” he said.
Paths have been created for by off road vehicle drivers on private property and railroad property.
“Rounding them up wouldn’t be the highest priority, but it is a nuisance and it has been a nuisance forever,” he said. “There were peeks and valleys where people grow up and move on and then others take their place. Groups do meet up back there. There are other areas (along the river) like the bottoms of New Miami. We have to go down and run them off all the time.”
Trenton Police Chief Patrick Carr said the injured officers are scraped up and sore, but did not require emergency medical treatment.
He agreed the activity has been a problem for “decades.”
The land is owned by the railroad, Duke Energy and the City of Trenton, Carr said.
“There are people who have been injured and their so called friends call 911 and leave them there and ride off,” Carr said “It is as if the people who go down there think they can do whatever the want to do. But it is slowly being addressed.”
Noah Alexander Terrell Fleming, 19, and Matthew David Short Jr., 23, both of Middletown, are charged with traffic offenses with additional charges pending, police said.
Police are continuing to investigate the identity of the dirt bike rider who struck the officers and fled. Anyone with information can call Trenton police at 513-988-6341.
