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Submerged scooter among headaches with vehicles new to streets

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The scooter saga continued to cause headaches for Indy metro police over the weekend. 

On Sunday, Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department posted a picture to its Twitter account showing an electric scooter underwater in the downtown canal

IMPD captioned the photo:

“Reminder, scooters are not allowed on the canal walk…or IN the canal. Proper reporting procedures are to call the number on the scooter to have it moved… #ScooterRules #TicketablewhetherRidingOrLittering “

The tweet garnered hundreds of likes and dozens of retweets.

On the same twitter thread Sunday, another user posted a picture depicting a man riding a Bird scooter in Monument Fountain “a few months ago.”

IMPD replied, “#OurMonumentFountainIsNotABirdBath #ScooterRules”

The latest debacle involving the motorized scooters comes just days after News 8 received video and pictures showing a Lime Bike on fire near the canal on Sept. 17. 

Lime released this statement to News 8 regarding the fire incident. 

“Lime has a local Indianapolis-based team that is retrieving the scooter, and we will closely examine it to determine what occurred to it. We appreciate the community bringing this to our attention. Our on-the-ground team proactively works nonstop to address safety, scooter parking and maintenance, and we encourage the public to contact us at 1-888-546-3345.” 

Two days later, on Sept. 19, while riding on a Bird scooter, a man was hit by a truck on Meridian Street just north of Maryland Street downtown

Scooters returned to Indianapolis on Sept. 4 after the city sent cease-and-desist letters to both Lime and Bird when the scooters were set loose on downtown streets in June.

Since that time, the city of Indianapolis has struggled to get riders to obey new ordinances and traffic laws put in place to regulate how and where they can be ridden. 

City leaders encourage people to call Lime, Bird or the Mayor’s Action Center if they see scooters parked improperly. 

Meanwhile, IMPD has been pushing the hashtag #ScooterRules urging anyone who sees a scooter involved in a crime to call the department’s non-emergency number at 317-327-3811.