LOS ANGELES _ Los Angeles Police Department Chief Charlie Beck fractured his pelvis Saturday when he fell off his motorcycle on a rocky trail in the Techachapi Mountains north of Los Angeles, the department said in a statement.
Beck, who was riding with a group of friends, was able to ride back to his truck and drive home before he went to a hospital for emergency care, the department said.
He may require surgery Monday, but the department said he is expected to return to work within the next week.
"I want to thank everyone for their well-wishes as I recuperate from my recent motorcycle mishap," Beck said in a statement. "As always, I am in constant contact with my LAPD command staff and will be working diligently while I recuperate to continue leading the men and women of the LAPD."
Beck, 63, has a well-known love of motorcycles, having competed in off-road racing for more than 40 years. He competes in local motocross events regularly, according to his LAPD biography online.
He is also no stranger to injuries.
He broke his collarbone in a motocross accident in 2012 and underwent surgery. At the time he said it was his third broken collarbone.
"Broken collarbones are the occasional price you pay for racing motocross," Beck wrote in an email to the Los Angeles Times in 2012.
