Two 11-year-olds are facing charges after Charlotte-Mecklenburg police say they were throwing rocks at passing vehicles while riding e-bikes through the Ballantyne area of south Charlotte. One of the boys took off when officers tried to pull him over, leading police to track him down at a nearby house.
Officers responded to a call reporting juveniles on e-bikes throwing rocks at passing cars near Blakeney Heath Road and Ardrey Kell Road, according to Queen City News. When officers located the two e-bikes, they reportedly saw both being ridden unsafely and at a high rate of speed, prompting an attempted traffic stop.
One of the 11-year-olds stopped, but the other fled, according to the station's report. That second juvenile was later identified and found a short time later at a nearby residence, per the same account. Both boys were charged with failure to heed lights and sirens and no operator's license, and officers seized both e-bikes before releasing the boys to their guardians.
Separate Reports Confirm the Charges
WSOC-TV also reported that Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officers responded to the call about juveniles on e-bikes throwing rocks at passing cars in the Ballantyne area, and that the two 11-year-olds were charged with failure to heed lights and sirens and no operator's license after the incident. Yahoo News likewise reported that the two 11-year-olds were charged after allegedly throwing rocks at passing vehicles in south Charlotte.
A Broader Debate Over E-Bike Rules
The incident lands amid an ongoing conversation at Charlotte City Hall over how to regulate e-bikes more broadly. Charlotte's Safety Committee was expected to take up the issue of stronger e-bike rules, according to WFAE, which also reported that the city does not currently track how often e-bikes are involved in crashes.
WFAE's reporting noted that e-bikes were associated with an estimated 59,200 emergency department visits nationwide in 2024, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. A Novant Health trauma and injury prevention coordinator told the station that speeding e-bike crashes tend to produce head trauma and broken bones as the most common injuries. The station also noted that New York now limits e-bikes and e-scooters to 15 mph, and that Charlotte itself ran an e-bike share program called Charlotte Joy Rides from 2012 through 2024.
North Carolina law defines an e-bike as a bicycle with two or three wheels, a seat, fully operable pedals for human propulsion, and an electric motor of no more than 750 watts, according to the North Carolina General Assembly. It remains unclear whether the two e-bikes involved in the Ballantyne incident met that statutory definition.
