No ATV Rides at National Night Out

Those fun ATV rides that draw the kids to National Night Out will not be a part of this year's celebration.

In years past, the event has featured police officers giving kids rides across the middle school field on ATVs.

After careful consideration and concerns expressed by parents, North Andover Police Lt. Charles Gray said, Chief Paul Gallagher decided to not have to ATV rides and instead will allow kids to have their photo taken next to the ATVs.

Last week, Tracey Zysk of Wiggles & Jiggles -- who is also a member of CrimeWatch and helps organize National Night Out -- posted a blog reminding people about the event. On the comments, Katie Kearney expressed concern about the ATV rides.

Kearney's 8-year-old son Sean was killed in 2006 after the ATV he was riding rolled over. After years of pushing for more regulation of the vehicles, Sean's Law was signed into law by Gov. Deval Patrick in 2010, prohibiting kids from operating the machines and putting into place many new restrictions.

On Tracey Zysk's blog, Kearney wrote:

"I am very surprised to see ATV rides for children when it is against the law in Ma for children under 14 to be on any size ATV' 14-16 no larger than a 90cc and is against the law to carry passengers. Google Sean's law. I think a story making the community aware of the law would helpful."

The back-and-forth debate took off from there. Police have not said whether or not Kearney's protests or Sean's Law led to the decision to cancel the ATV rides.

Has National Night Out broken a law in the previous two years by having ATV rides? That's debatable, but not likely.

According to Section 26 of Sean's Law:

Section 26. (a) (1) No person under 14 years of age shall operate an all terrain vehicle or recreation utility vehicle. This section shall not apply to a person operating a recreation vehicle or snow vehicle in preparation for, or while a participant in, a sanctioned race, rally or organized event which is supervised by a person aged 18 or older and which has been authorized or approved by a municipal permitting authority. It shall be an affirmative defense in a delinquency proceeding for a violation of this section that a juvenile was supervised by a person aged 18 or older while operating such a vehicle within 21 days before such sanctioned race, rally or organized event or while a participant in such a sanctioned race, rally or organized event.

But given the sensitivity of the situation as well as the complexity of Sean's Law and the restrictions that came with it, police have decided to scrap the rides and focus on promoting public safety with discussion about the vehicles and photo ops for the kids.