ATV arrests include rider wanted for attempted murder

Last September, police say, Surmondre McGregor got out of a Dodge Charger on an Allapattah street, walked up to a man named Lafayette Dock and fired his weapon nine times. Three hit the target.

Dock, who was riding his bike home when he was shot in the side, arm and leg, lived. Less than two weeks after the shooting — and still in his hospital bed — Dock shared the incident and his recovery on his Facebook page.

On Monday, four months after the shooting, McGregor, 19, once again did something attention-grabbing. But this time it got him busted. Police found him behind the wheel of some type of off-road vehicle during the #bikesupgunsdown rideout of off-road vehicles on South Florida roads.

He was promptly arrested and charged with attempted premeditated murder with a deadly weapon, aggravated battery and a host of other charges, and booked into Miami-Dade Corrections without bond.

McGregor’s capture was the most notable fallout from what now appears to be an annual celebration of civil disobedience on the road during the Martin Luther King holiday.

Like last year, hundreds of ATV and dirt bike riders, many from out of state, flooded South Florida’s streets and highways, popping wheelies, darting over medians and sometimes driving the wrong way. The display often halted traffic and caused some headaches for commuters.

But for the most part people seemed to enjoy the spectacle, some hanging out the windows of their vehicles while taking photos and video. Unlike last year’s rally, which caught law enforcement off guard and was primarily in Miami-Dade, this year’s riders took to Broward streets and rarely ventured onto Interstate 95. Police were ready but refrained from chasing the hundreds who skirted driving laws.

Miami-Dade police, under the guidance of Acting Director Juan Perez, used Facebook to share its displeasure with Monday’s events.

“Under the guise of celebrating the MLK holiday, these groups took to our streets on off-road vehicles causing traffic hazards that endangered themselves and the public,” the statement read.

In total this year, police impounded 59 motorcycles and ATVs and three cars. Twenty-eight people were arrested, most for driving without a license or registration. Five were charged with weapons violations, including one man who police said had a MAC-10 machine gun.

Police also arrested a man named Corey Jones, 26, and charged him with grand theft auto. Details weren’t available Tuesday.

Another man was arrested during an incident dozens of miles from where riders took to the road and well before the event began mid-afternoon Monday. Doral police charged Epps Kevon Joseph, 26, who lives in the small town of Gibsonton on Florida’s west coast, with reckless driving and driving with a suspended license

They initially spotted him Sunday afternoon popping wheelies and other tricks on Northwest 79th Avenue and 36th Street and chased him to a stairwell on the west side of the Miami Herald building on Northwest 35th Street. He was charged with reckless driving. On Monday he returned to the Miami Herald in a pickup truck and police who spotted him arrested him again, this time for driving with a suspended license.

Herald security reviewing surveillance tape noticed the man tossed something into shrubbery adjacent to the building, before police caught up with Joseph on Sunday. A search of the shrubs unearthed a gun.

But it was the arrest of McGregor on Monday when most participants were trying to stress peace through civil disobedience that stood out.

Known on the streets as “Mondre,” McGregor has had brushes with the law in the past. In September 2013 he was charged with carrying a concealed firearm. A week later he was charged with burglary.

According to the warrant for his arrest, which signed by a judge last Friday, McGregor got out of the Charger’s passenger door on Sept. 20 of last year, walked to within five feet of Dock and opened fire.

The warrant said Dock feigned death on the ground and McGregor got back into the car, which took off. Less than three weeks after the shooting, and while still recovering, Dock gave a sworn statement and identified McGregor as the shooter, police said.

On Monday, Miami-Dade police finally caught up with McGregor. Details on how he was captured, what he was driving or where the arrest took place weren’t available Tuesday. Police said their computer systems were down and the arresting officer couldn’t be reached.

This story was originally published January 19, 2016 at 6:05 PM with the headline "ATV arrests include rider wanted for attempted murder."