By an edhat reader
I’m curious if anyone also saw this or know of these kids from other similar instances. There were 4 teens, all Caucasian, 1 girl and 3 boys riding electric bikes recklessly around La Mesa Park.
They were cutting across the grass, going on the sidewalk around little kids on the playground, and riding down to the creek bed behind the park. They stopped at the benches on the path down to the bridge that crosses into the neighborhood over there and started 3 small fires, waist high, and were laughing and screaming trying to stomp them out.
They also were pretending to hit people with sticks as they rode past them by those benches. A fire truck came in response to those fires and the kids took off down the path to cross the bridge.
I’m just curious if anyone else saw or has had any similar experiences with this crew.
Waist high is not a small fire. Wow. Please take pictures of these arsonists and send to the police when you witness things like this so they can be identified. Playing with fire to that degree is no longer “kids being kids”
Sounds like lots of people have had experience with ill mannered young teens on ebikes near the Mesa. Surprised there hasn’t been some sort of Neighborhood Watch or something with pitchforks posse’d up and hunting them down. I jest, but seriously, these kids are getting to be too much it sounds.
If they’re threatening people with physical harm and lighting fires, that’s enough for the police to get involved. CALL THE COPS. These kids need to be apprehended.
Please tell me that you called 911!
yes I did discreetly because I was with my toddler and unsure how these teens would react seeing me calling cops on them, I just didn’t want to risk it. But yeah the fire truck responded a few minutes later. I told them the direction the kids went and then I called 911 again to tell them directly because the firemen were tending to the burn areas and I wasn’t sure they’d call in time to get to those fast e-bikes
It seems like there are people who are determined to deny that these kids are from the Mesa. Maybe their own parents?
the Mesa Brats are a bunch of undisciplined creeps. Two of them, boys, started a fire last year at SBCC in the upper lot near the stadium. two others tossing stuff off of the foot bridge onto cars below (this happens every year actually), numerous kids on ebikes have been banned from being on campus (SBCC). There are two groups that I’ve encountered, the Brats and one small group of good kids. The latter are respectful, polite, and are generally good kids. The other group are the trouble makers. The girls are way more reckless on their bikes than the boys that I’ve seen. I have two ebikes, owning and riding an ebike doesn’t make you a bad kid or a terror on wheels, being a brat that vandalizes things, taunts people, commits arson, exhibits self centered reckless behavior makes them bad kids.
also, i hope that you called the PD and didn’t just pop onto Edhat and post….
Just because kids cause trouble in the Mesa doesn’t mean they’re Mesa residents.
The Mesa draws people from all over with its numerous parks & shops & proximity to the beaches.
If you don’t know they’re names or where they live leave it at “white teenagers or kids”.
Karma stated “ the Mesa Brats are a bunch of undisciplined creeps.”
My kid rides his e-bike from San roque to Montecito regularly.
The blurted district lines mean children from Montecito goto San Marcos, La Colina, DP, etc. aAnd vice verse.
they have friends from soccer, football, etc & e-bikes makes it easy to travel to areas outside their neighborhood.
Yeah, and? The kids that are causing trouble in that area, regardless of where they’re from, are brats. Weird you so hung up on that and so silent on what these little arsonists were doing.
SBGETALONG, Sorry to burst your bubble, but no dude, people do not flock to the Mesa to see it’s glorious amounts of retail and dining. These kids live on the mesa. #fact ( i happen to know where two of them live man, so get off your weird rant about this)
Oh no, those brats need to be disciplined. That goes without saying.
I’ve repeatedly stated the parents & kids should have to do community service DK the parents learn a lesson as well.
Unfortunately many parents don’t parent.
SBLETSGET – no one said they’re “Mesa residents” nor did anyone say their names. Even so, they ARE more likely to live near the Mesa than from Goleta or Montecito. They probably didn’t ride their bikes there from miles away just for the parks and shops.
Parents of kids in this area need to be aware. Kids like this give other teens on ebikes a bad name. Not only that, they put innocent bystanders at risk of injury and now, apparently arson.