09/14/2026
Statement Regarding KNIX Broadcast Encouraging Violence Against Motorcyclists
ABATE of Arizona has received reports that KNIX Country 102.5 radio personality Tim Hattrick encouraged motorists to open their vehicle doors on passing motorcycle riders. We are seeking the complete, unedited recording and broadcast information so that the speaker’s exact words and context can be established.
If the reported statement is accurate, it is unacceptable. Deliberately opening a vehicle door into the path of a motorcyclist is not a prank, traffic-management technique, or legitimate response to lane filtering. It is conduct that can cause serious physical injury or death.
Under Arizona law, a person commits assault by intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly causing physical injury, intentionally placing another person in reasonable apprehension of imminent physical injury, or knowingly touching another person with the intent to injure, insult, or provoke. Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 13-1203(A) (2026). An assault may become aggravated assault when it causes serious physical injury or involves the use of a deadly weapon or dangerous instrument. Id. § 13-1204(A)(1)–(2). A motor vehicle or its door may qualify as a dangerous instrument when intentionally used in a manner readily capable of causing death or serious physical injury. See id. § 13-105(12).
Even when no collision occurs, intentionally creating a substantial risk of imminent death or physical injury may constitute endangerment. Id. § 13-1201(A). If a rider is killed, the responsible motorist could face criminal-homicide charges based on the facts and the motorist’s mental state. See id. §§ 13-1102 to -1105.
Arizona also prohibits solicitation. A person commits solicitation when, with intent to promote or facilitate an offense, the person commands, encourages, requests, or solicits another person to engage in conduct constituting the offense. Id. § 13-1002(A). Whether a particular broadcast satisfies that statute depends on the exact language, context, intent, audience, and likelihood that listeners would understand the statement as a serious request to act.
The First Amendment protects offensive speech, satire, and abstract advocacy. It does not provide an unlimited defense for speech directed toward producing imminent unlawful conduct and likely to produce that conduct. Brandenburg v. Ohio, 395 U.S. 444, 447 (1969) (per curiam). Whether this broadcast crosses that constitutional line cannot be determined from a paraphrase alone. The recording must be preserved and reviewed.
KNIX and iHeartMedia Inc. should immediately:
Preserve the complete broadcast recording, including the statements made before and after the reported comment.
Preserve producer notes, internal communications, listener calls, text messages, social-media posts, and complaints concerning the segment.
Release the complete and unedited audio.
Explain whether the statement was live, prerecorded, scripted, or approved by a producer.
Issue an on-air correction stating that motorists must never use a vehicle or vehicle door to threaten, obstruct, or injure a motorcyclist.
Provide equivalent airtime for motorcycle-safety education.
Motorcyclists are vulnerable road users. A vehicle occupant is surrounded by engineered protection. A rider is not. Encouraging a motorist to weaponize that disparity exposes riders, passengers, and nearby motorists to a foreseeable risk of injury.
ABATE of Arizona supports lawful speech, including speech that criticizes motorcyclists or Arizona’s lane-filtering law. The issue here is not whether a broadcaster may express an unpopular opinion. The issue is whether a broadcaster used a mass-media platform to encourage listeners to commit an act of violence against an identifiable class of road users.
We request that KNIX and iHeartMedia respond publicly, preserve all relevant evidence, and use their platform to make clear that disagreement with a motorcyclist never licenses a driver to use a vehicle as a weapon.
