An Elk Grove woman has spoken out after a gang of e-bike riders hurled rocks at passing drivers near Sacramento.
Karen Vethekar, a resident of Elk Grove, California, told KCRA she witnessed the young riders grab landscaping rocks from a walkway and throw them at vehicles on a busy roadway.
“This is what the kids are doing here, throwing rocks,” the woman can be heard saying on video shared by the station.
Vethekar said gangs of wild riders have repeatedly targeted her in the neighborhood.
“They feel invincible, invincible like most kids do and young adults,” she told KCRA.
A gang of e-bike riders followed Vethekar home from a local park, she said.
Frightening home surveillance shows riders gathered outside her home.
“My husband checked the camera. He said, ‘The kids are still out there,'” she told KCRA. “And I was like, ‘What can we do?'”
Vethekar said the image of riders hurling rocks haunts her.
“These are streets that we drive day in, day out,” she added. “It’s unsafe. It puts everyone at risk.”
Elk Grove Police spokeswoman Julissa Ortiz told KCRA that officers fielded a complaint about the e-bike troublemakers.
“We know that it’s an ongoing problem,” Ortiz said.
Ortiz said the threat posed by e-bike riders is very real.
“Throwing rocks, intimidating people in these communities can turn dangerous very quickly,” she added.
Meanwhile, members of the Elk Grove city council were scheduled to meet Wednesday to consider new regulations for e-bikes, motorized scooters and bicycles.
According to city officials, calls for service involving e-bikes exploded from approximately seven in 2023 to 62 in 2025.
The city says approximately 122 e-bike-related calls have already been recorded in 2026.
A whopping 238 bicycle-related collisions occurred in Elk Grove between 2023 and 2025, including 27 resulting in major injuries.
The number of bicycle collisions more than doubled, from 51 in 2023 to 110 in 2025.
Proposed rules before the Elk Grove city council would ban personal transportation devices, including e-bikes, from local sidewalks unless signs specifically allow them.
Riders would be required to yield to pedestrians and give an audible warning when passing in areas where riding is permitted.
The rules would also set a 15-mile-per-hour speed limit for bicycles and personal transportation devices on bikeways and prohibit reckless riding, racing and tricks.
In the viral moment that sparked the outcry, video showed a group of young riders near a road in Elk Grove. The footage captured the riders grabbing landscaping rocks and hurling them at passing vehicles. Vethekar’s voice can be heard on the recording documenting the dangerous behavior. The incident has fueled demands for action as residents report feeling terrorized by roving groups of e-bike riders.
The Elk Grove city council is expected to vote on the proposed e-bike regulations at its Wednesday meeting.