Nassau County e-bike ban leads to seizures, fines and legal debate

When Nassau County police impounded his e-bike recently, Carmine Macchia, an engineer from West Hempstead, was shocked to learn from the officers that all e-bikes with throttles are now banned throughout the county.

Macchia was pulled over for riding on the sidewalk in his neighborhood, which he said was to avoid some road construction. But even if he'd been in the roadway, the police told him they could have stopped him under the blanket ban, announced in March.

“They said they've been advising everyone to sell their e-bikes, but that I could keep it to ride up and down my own driveway,” Macchia said.

In recent months, Nassau police have been seizing e-bikes and e-scooters, and hitting owners with court fines as well as hefty fees for towing and storage — $125 plus $20 per day the e-bike sits in a lot.

Proponents say the measure is necessary for safety, citing rising deaths and injuries. But some riders say the total ban, which is among the strictest in the state, is unfair to those who ride responsibly and depend on their e-bikes to get around.

Representatives from the villages of Old Westbury and Garden City told Newsday they are not enforcing the county ban. Spokespersons for Hempstead Village and the City of Glen Cove did not respond to requests for comment.

A spokesman for Long Beach said the city is enforcing it, although on Thursday morning a reporter saw several throttled e-bikes parked at the Long Island Rail Road station, across the street from the city's police headquarters, and a rider on Park Avenue.

Some attorneys who have studied transportation regulations have also called the ban unlawful because it is based on an old county law that predates e-bikes and only mentions “motorized scooters.”

According to the county, the ban covers all so-called Class 2 and 3 e-bikes, which allow riders to pedal or use a throttle and travel up to 20 mph and 30 mph, respectively. It also covers e-scooters. Critics object most to the ban on Class 2 e-bikes, since Class 3s are already illegal outside of New York City under state law. Class 1 e-bikes, which the county says are still allowed, go the same speed as Class 2s but provide a boost only while pedaling.

Democrats in the county legislature recently introduced a bill that they say would clarify the law and undo parts of the ban, but the Republican majority indicated  that members will not support it.

“The [police] and County Attorney’s office believe that the existing laws on the books already allow for the robust protection of bicyclists, pedestrians and drivers in Nassau County. No amendments or clarifications are necessary at this time,” Howard Kopel (R-Lawrence), the legislature’s presiding officer, said in a statement.

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman’s spokesman did not respond to a request for comment, but the executive recently told Streetsblog, a transportation news site, he endorses the ban.

E-bike riders are “creating havoc, and they’re creating a dangerous situation for people who are pedestrians, for people who are in motor vehicles and, most importantly, for themselves,” he said.

Nassau e-bike ban stricter than Suffolk's

E-bikes, which are heavy and can accelerate quickly, have led to safety concerns, particularly for kids.

A 14-year-old student was recently killed while riding an e-bike in Bellmore, and Newsday’s traffic fatality tracker shows that in 2025, at least six e-bike riders were killed on Long Island, as was one pedestrian struck by an e-bike.

“I have never seen such an explosion in the amount of admissions that we’ve seen over the last few years with these micro-mobility, or e-scooters and e-bikes," Dr. Richard Scriven, a pediatric trauma surgeon at Stony Brook Children’s Hospital, recently told Newsday.

Suffolk County enacted a law last year with stricter requirements for minors, including helmet use, and restrictions on where e-bikes can be ridden.

But unlike Nassau, Suffolk does not have a blanket ban on Class 2 e-bikes.

Jaime Barrett, of Bethpage, said Nassau’s total ban hurts responsible e-bike riders like herself.

Barrett, 46, said she shares one car with her wife, so she often relies on her Class 2 e-bike. She suffers from rheumatoid arthritis and other conditions that make it difficult for her to pedal.

“Having a throttle means that if my arthritis in my knee swells up, I can still get my bike home,” she said. “It's not about, you know, racing through the streets or being a maniac.”

Legal questions

Nassau police announced the ban in social media posts in March, surprising e-bike riders. Earlier departmental public service announcements — including a video from late last year featuring Commissioner Patrick Ryder — said riders must be 16, wear a helmet and ride safely, as required by state law, but they made no mention of a blanket ban on throttled e-bikes.

Christopher Todd, a lawyer for the department, has told Newsday it is based on a 2006 county law that bans "motorized scooters." Though the statute does not mention e-bikes, he said the department interprets "motorized scooters" to encompass Class 2 and 3 e-bikes (though not Class 1s) using a 2020 state law that defines "electric scooters.”

However, Daniel Flanzig, a lawyer representing e-bike riders, noted that state law offers a different definition for e-bikes.

Interpreting an e-bike to be a scooter is like “interpreting a motorcycle to be a car, or a cat to be a dog,” he said.

Nassau Legis. Olena Nicks (D-Uniondale) recently sponsored the legislation to legalize Class 1 and 2 e-bikes and electric scooters, while continuing to prohibit riding on sidewalks and highways, following state statutes.

At a news conference on April 27, she told Newsday the bill was not about criticizing law enforcement, but rather about providing proper instructions on what is legal and what is not so that "our residents can ride their E-bikes safely ... [while] protecting our pedestrians and drivers."

Legis. Debra Mulé (D-Freeport) said a lack of legal clarity for the ban could leave the county vulnerable: “If someone has to pay money, [or] someone's arrested and it's not based on the law, that opens us up to lawsuits.”

Lack of response from Nassau police

Macchia said that when he went to retrieve his bicycle at a Nassau County police station, he noticed a binder titled something like “E-bike Special Task Force."

Later, at the private tow lot, he paid $165 to retrieve his Class 2 e-bike — $125 for towing and $20 for each day it sat in the lot, according to receipts he shared with Newsday.

A manager at A1 Grand Auto Body in New Hyde Park, who gave his name only as Brian, confirmed the rates are the same as those for cars and are set by the county.

Nassau County police did not respond to questions about whether they have an e-bike task force, how many e-bikes they have impounded since March, and the county’s set rates for towing e-bikes. The 2006 law cited by police states that departments may charge an "administrative processing fee" of $250 and a daily storage fee of $5 for motorized scooters.

Garden City acting Police Commissioner Gerard Kneisel and Old Westbury Police Chief Stuart Cameron both said their departments are not enforcing the ban.

Cameron said the reason was “the operation of e-bikes has not been a public safety concern in our village as it has in other communities in Nassau County.”

He added that county police still have jurisdiction within his village, so Class 2 e-bike riders could still be pulled over.

Kneisel said Garden City is waiting for more legal clarity, possibly from a new village law.

“We prefer a local law that we can enforce on every road in the village,” he said. “We do not have an out-of-control [e-bike] problem, so it seemed prudent to develop our own local code.”

An earlier version of a headline on this story had the wrong month that Nassau began enforcing the e-bike ban.