Police in New Jersey have arrested a 20-year-old who took officers on a high speed chase on his motorcycle back in December, and filmed the whole thing. Video of the hair-raising December 10th run from the law made its way to a YouTube channel highlighting illegal motorcycle exploits, which NBC4 reports is managed by a friend of the suspect, biker Anthony Darrigo.
Cops in sleepy Pequannock Township, 50 minutes west of New York City, say an officer spotted Darrigo popping a wheelie on his Honda street bike that afternoon, and when he tried to pull him over, Darrigo booked it. The five-minute helmet-cam video shows some deeply irresponsible maneuvering, including red-light running, passing on the right on a one-lane on-ramp, and lane-splitting at high speeds on a highway.
Police and reporters have made a big deal about Darrigo's speedometer reading 160, which it does, but we'd like to just note that the unit of measurement isn't clear in the footage, and it could be showing kilometers per hour (that's still about 100 miles per hour—the guy was going fast, no doubt). Officers called off the chase on orders from their supervisors, and couldn't trace the bike because its plate was bent, obscuring the numbers, according to Pequannock Township police.
On April 6th, four months after the chase and three months after the video went live, cops had traced the video to Darrigo and they executed a search warrant at his house. There they seized his motorcycle, biking gear, computer, and phone as evidence. He is being charged with eluding police and resisting arrest. He was released without bail.
NBC4 caught up to Darrigo. He acknowledged being the rider on the video, and he claims he carried out, and filmed, the whole suburban version of the Kessel Run because he was "nervous."
"I don't know why I did it, just all in the heat of the moment," he said. "I was just nervous."
Darrigo is currently nursing a leg broken in a bike crash. He whined to the station that his arrest might hamper his dreams of becoming a state trooper. If convicted, he could have his license suspended, and do prison time.
He said he loved riding motorcycles—"I don't think I'll ever let go"—but that he now plans to drive "very carefully."
Pequannock Police Capt. called the stunt an act of "unbelievable, insane disregard for public safety."
For a taste of what some of Darrigo's dirt-bike- and four-wheeler-riding counterparts are up to in New York City, here's another video of antisocial biker behavior from the channel that got Darrigo caught.
