The Washington State Patrol posted a dashcam video this week that covers almost every bad decision a motorcyclist can make during a traffic stop, including trying to escape by swimming away in full leather.
The whole thing started with the rider being clocked 20 MPH over the speed limit in a speeding violation.
Motorcycle Rider Makes a Series of Terrible Decisions During Traffic Stop
The released video shows a motorcycle being clocked 20 miles per hour over the speed limit in Whatcom County. The trooper spotted it, turned the patrol car around, and initiated a stop. The rider refused to stop, turning a simple speeding ticket into something much more serious.
The video then cuts to later in the pursuit, the patrol car behind the bike with the rider refusing to pull over. At one point, the motorcyclist attempts to ditch the trooper by cutting onto a sidewalk, but that did not work either.
Eventually, a second officer on a motorcycle pulled alongside the rider while the suspect slowed to a bounce-and-weave crawl, still refusing to stop, until he made his final bad decision.
They abandoned the bike entirely, jumped off and started running on foot down a hill toward the water on the left side of the road.
The Part That Even Surprised Me
The property the suspect chose to run through borders the water, looks like a lake with trees, a fence, and a steep embankment leading straight to the shoreline. Officers could be heard shouting “get on the ground” as a trooper chased the suspect literally to the water’s edge from only feet behind.
The suspect kept running, pushed through a fence at the waterline, and fell directly into the water, in full black leather riding gear with white sleeves.
He then attempted to slowly swim away, but the trooper was standing right there.
The officer grabbed him easily as he paddled away at around what I would estimate to be near zero miles per hour.
The last footage is of the rider being led back up to the road in handcuffs. You can see the suspect from behind, soaking wet, and still dressed head to toe in wet leather.
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