"Borrowed" Infiniti G35. Video camera. Drifting. State Police next door. Ta Da!

[HardDrive]

Todays big winners in the 'Future Rocket Scientists of America Club" come to you all the way from beautiful Bellevue, WA. Take a bow boys, you've made your mothers proud!



BELLEVUE, Wash. -- A pair of wannabe stunt drivers video taping their own reckless driving to post on YouTube ended up with a trip to jail instead of Internet fame.

In the video, the two men are trying to record themselves 'drifting,' by making a series of hard, fast turns in which the rear of the car slides through a curve.

Their biggest mistake, though, was recording the video early Monday in an empty parking lot right next to the State Patrol office in Bellevue.

"You'd think if you were going to drive like that, you don't want to do it right next to our office," said Trooper Jeff Merrill. "The trooper didn't have far to go to make these arrests."

Merrill said the two men borrowed the car from a Bellevue dealership where they both work.

And evidence won't be much of an issue, since troopers confiscated the tape the men used to record the incident.

On the tape you can hear the men narrate as they try to whip the car around in the parking lot.

"We're in an Infiniti G35," one of the men says while recording. "I think at some point you should let me out of the car so we can get car footage as well."

The last frames of the video even show the trooper's patrol car pulling into view.

"I'm going sh***, cop up here!" one of the men says before the recording stops.

The driver was booked for investigation of reckless driving and malicious mischief. The other man was booked for investigation of malicious mischief.

The car dealership has fired both employees

[WolfeMacleod]

Saw that on the news last night too. Freakin' smart guys there...

[Dantilla]

These genius guys must be related to the bank robber in Yakima after Mt. St. helens blew.

Police followed his tracks in the ash from the bank to the back door of his house.

[Jeff Higgins]

No sense being stupid unless you can prove it.

[Whtnkls911]

I wonder if the dealer is going to have "Fast and Furious" sale on that G35. After seeing this, I now know every dealer car is beat like rental before it's sold. Gives you great confidence in buying that next factory certified used vehicle.

[Tobra]

Don't know the rules in Washington, but I am pretty sure they can't cite you for wreckless driving on private property in California. I like G35's

[svandamme]

well yeah Tobra, that's exactly what i was thinking

parking lot is not the public road
if it's not public road, what the hell can a state trooper do, no jurisdiction

maybe if the owner of the parking lot called it in, but that wasn't mentioned
and even if so, it's a parking lot, how can you call in "trespassing" when a parking lot is involved?

[slakjaw]

Sweet! go drifting in an empty parking lot, go to jail.

[bell]

Originally Posted by svandamme

well yeah Tobra, that's exactly what i was thinking

parking lot is not the public road
if it's not public road, what the hell can a state trooper do, no jurisdiction

maybe if the owner of the parking lot called it in, but that wasn't mentioned
and even if so, it's a parking lot, how can you call in "trespassing" when a parking lot is involved?

i got "busted" years ago for doing a burnout in our shops parking lot (no we didn't record it LOL) and after the same question reguarding the lot the cop explained that if there is an entry and an exit in the lot and has a "traffic pattern" then it's considered a road, if the lot had one single lane driveway total they wouldn't have been doing anything wrong.......except for the "borrowed" car part. if it wasn't their lot then it is considered trespassing unless they had permission to be there.
this is how it was explained to me after the burnout anyway.....could've been bs though, was a hell of a burnout though and the cop let me off

[legion]

Originally Posted by bell

i got "busted" years ago for doing a burnout in our shops parking lot (no we didn't record it LOL) and after the same question reguarding the lot the cop explained that if there is an entry and an exit in the lot and has a "traffic pattern" then it's considered a road, if the lot had one single lane driveway total they wouldn't have been doing anything wrong.......except for the "borrowed" car part. if it wasn't their lot then it is considered trespassing unless they had permission to be there.
this is how it was explained to me after the burnout anyway.....could've been bs though, was a hell of a burnout though and the cop let me off

Funny, call the cops after you get rear-ended in a public parking lot--even one with "an entry and an exit in the lot and has a traffic pattern" and guess what they will tell you? "I'm sorry, we can't write tickets for accidents that occur on private property." It's all about what laws they feel like enforcing.

[Noah930]

Interesting point, legion. I once asked a (Massachusetts) cop friend about this type of scenario: jurisdiction in a parking lot. At least in Mass (and probably in a lot of other states, I would guess), he explained that if the lot is open to public transit, even if it's technically private property, then it's a location where law enforcement is allowed to do that--enforce the laws. Not only is this true during "normal business hours" of the establishment, but also when said establishment is closed (so, 24/7/365). However, if you're doing something in your own driveway at home, then he can't come arrest you/give you a ticket.

[Gogar]

Originally Posted by slakjaw

Sweet! go drifting in an empty parking lot, go to jail.

I don't think the problem is really the drifting, rather the "Borrowing" of the car from the dealership during the wee hours of the morning.

[nostatic]

Originally Posted by Jeff Higgins

No sense being stupid unless you can prove it.

words to live by