Bike chase on TV and the real footage

[dcBear78]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=242YqeItGnE]YouTube - Australian "Highway Patrol" motorbike chase w. actual dash-camera footage @ 7:15[/ame]

The above is a segment from an Australian reality show "Highway Patrol" where they ride with, surprise surprise the traffic police. This video features a member of another Aussie motorbike forum I go to...

Now.... I am not condoning his actions.

But I thought I would throw it up here, as this video actually has the raw footage that he received as part of his defence. It is interesting watching it, reading the annotations and then seeing how it actually went down. Interesting to watch the dangerous driving of the police and their less than savoury comments along the way (ram him!!) that didn't make it into the TV version.

There is a saying, "You can't let the truth get in the way of a good story."

Bit of background...

He was on a suspended licence. Had modified the number plate to avoid detection. And did a runner. This all happened late last year. He has been to court and the TV episode aired after this. Got a 2 year licence suspension and 200 hours community service. Avoided the criminal convictions the police tried to stick. He has since sold the bike and no longer drives (anything). Yes he was caught again 8 weeks after this one, but that was months and months before his court appearance where the licence was taken off him. He had another court appearance to go to though for it.

 

[toddjcruz]

Why do bike riders do this crap? And why do we defend them by picking on the police? “Look how he isn’t wearing his seat belt”? Sorry, but all I see is another jerk sport bike rider making us look bad and people trying to defend him by making up lame excuses for what the police did wrong. Put these guys in jail and get them off the roads. If you don’t ride like this, the police don’t HAVE to drive the wrong way to catch you. The commentary was what made me laugh the most, “look how he forces the car in to a blind intersection”. LOL. Not a single comment of “look at the bike speed down the road, run red lights, drive through the grass and up on curves”. To funny.

 

[Marthy]

I do condemn those kind of behavior for sure. But with all honesty, if you can get away with a SS... maybe you don't belong on a SS. There's no way in the world that any cop can keep up with a liter bike for more then about 10 sec.

 

[madmike]

Why do bike riders do this crap? And why do we defend them by picking on the police? “Look how he isn’t wearing his seat belt”? Sorry, but all I see is another jerk sport bike rider making us look bad and people trying to defend him by making up lame excuses for what the police did wrong. Put these guys in jail and get them off the roads. If you don’t ride like this, the police don’t HAVE to drive the wrong way to catch you. The commentary was what made me laugh the most, “look how he forces the car in to a blind intersection”. LOL. Not a single comment of “look at the bike speed down the road, run red lights, drive through the grass and up on curves”. To funny.

Exactly. The rider was the one putting people at risk by making a run for it, and the police have an obligation to try and apprehend him. From the background provided (suspended license, etc.) I have zero sympathy for this jerk.

I'm no angel when it comes to the road, but when you willingly break the law for thrills, you should be prepared to pay the piper. I was thrown in the can for a week for high speeds several years ago. When I saw the lights pop, could I have made a break for it? Sure, there was no way the cop was going to catch me, but I slowed down and stopped for him, because I knew I was in the wrong. I made the choice to floor my accelerator, and I knew running just made my poor decision that much worse. Be a man, and try to be responsible for your actions.

 

[dcBear78]

Again... I didn't put this up here to support this douche. Reading the full thread and his full details he has an abysmal record and deserves everything he got.

I just like the difference between the media version and the actual events.

Another thing that may not have been mentioned in the video was the police were not called out to a complaint about the riders, they were just on patrol and saw bikes and followed them hoping for some action. At that time other than some silliness like no hands and some minor un-proven speeding they really hadn't done anything wrong and were targeted just because they were on bikes.

Until the police got involved they hadn't done anything dangerous.

Yes he was an idiot for doing a runner, and this was dangerous.

But more dangerous was the police actions of a futile chase (pushing cars through busy intersections, driving on the wrong side of the road etc). Especially as they had the number plate details of all bikes involved and it was this that lead them to ultimately catch him.

 

[Mr Citrus]

Some people shouldn't have bikes.

 

[b_who]

kinda bugs me how there's captions saying they ran a light here and there except they have their lights and sirens on, they have the right of way and everybody must yield to them so i don't have a problem with that. and when i see a cops lights flashing I get out of there way like your supposed to do so doesn't bother me much and if was a cop having to chase somebody else down i know I'd be cursing like a sailor lol
Their human and get pissed when u make their job that much harder just like everybody else in the world. so i say get off the cops nuts, the rider was the dumb ass riding with a suspended license after all