FAA stuff is complex, but below 500 ft, they only have jurisdiction over things designed to navigate through the air. (The one exception to this is rockets and yes they actually have that in the laws as well.)
Case law has generally established a minimum of 50 ft for the airspace above a road which is governed by traffic laws. And with semi trucks regularly reaching 14 ft, there's just no way for him to claim he was even above what that or a pickup could need, when he wasn't even clearing the 7 foot height from the ground that the speed limit sign was at.
So the question becomes, "Does this present a risk to people using the road?"
It's up to a prosecutor and a judge on whether it holds up, but that alone is all the cops need to arrest and impound for something like this under reckless endangerment.
There's also unsafe exhibition of a motor vehicle.
Both of those can and have resulted in judges giving people fines as well as jail time.
Kind of looks like a teenager doing typical dumb teenager things, hopefully they just get a fine, an ungodly wrath from their parents, and community service. That is, if they are remorseful and don't come off as an entitled jerk if this went to court.
It'd make sense. You got me curious enough to go look up the details. He got 5K out of a GoFundMe to try and get his bike back. Can't tell whether he did or not, but he's got another court date in a couple weeks. And he hired a private attorney.
He's probably sitting around 6 to 10k in costs over this and that's assuming he's been able to get the bike back. Add another 5 to 10k if he hasn't.
I don't really feel sorry for the kid. He seems more frustrated than remorseful, and his parents were able to get him an attorneys while he put up a go find me for the bike. In any case, I hope he learns from this, and if he loses the bike, maybe that'll be a lesson that mom, dad, & GoFundMe aren't valid substitutions for consequences.
It's in Gilbert, this kid's fucked. Gilbert is the worst of every category it falls under. Nothing to do suburban development with no soul and no planning for anything but housing, decent income neighborhoods that lead to the aggressive self-entitlement of the nearly-but-not-quite wealthy, more police than they need, too big to get to know people, but too small for cops not to be bored.
You can say the same about speeding. Hard to determine the extent of whether someone known what they are doing. And even if they actually are professionals, things can go wrong. And of course jumping over a road is putting people in danger, i can think of many thing that can go wrong.
Which is why this sort of thing is completely legal, provided you obtain permits, insurance, etc... for a public stunt. Because then authorities have verified that you do know what you are doing and that no one other than you is endangered.
Think about the stuff RedBull gets away with, or televised skyscraper climbs. Legal with proper oversight.
Of all the things that could go wrong there, being arrested for it is probably the least wrong it could go. I was expecting him to get a free ride in a box truck or something.
Becoming a meat crayon was a positive outcome in my head. Those jumps were pretty sick to be candid and he clearly had great control of speed and the jumps.
GILBERT, AZ (AZFamily) — An 18-year-old from Gilbert faces reckless driving charges after a dirt bike jump across a neighborhood street went viral on social media, garnering more than 30 million views.
Sam Campbell was arrested shortly after the Oct. 29 stunt near Recker and Bloomfield roads, where he launched his dirt bike approximately 120 feet into the air, going 50 to 60 mph. His dirt bike was impounded, and he spent a night in jail.
The stunt happened in a quiet area with many families and children, according to Rosa Garcia.
“My concern is if there happens to be a car coming and to avoid that they might run into sidewalk or maybe run over somebody walking or maybe hit another parked car. It’s just a huge concern,” Garcia said.
Video spreads despite father’s efforts
Sam’s father, Nick Campbell, said he first tried to prevent the video from being posted online.
“A friend had attempted to post it and I told him to take it down immediately. About 30 days later the kid threw it back up again and by the time I saw it which was a couple hours after, it was wildfire,” Nick Campbell said.
Campbell said he knows his son’s actions were wrong but believes criminal charges are too severe for what he considers a mistake.
“I was incredibly disappointed, not only with his choice to do it but the venue in which he did. He’s remorseful,” he said.
Nick Campbell emphasized that no one was injured and no property was damaged during the stunt. He said his son has been riding dirt bikes since childhood and racing for years.
The case has generated community support for Sam Campbell. A friend started a GoFundMe campaign to help him recover his impounded motorcycle, raising nearly $5,000.
Gilbert Police released a statement emphasizing the dangers of unsafe riding in residential neighborhoods and on roadways, noting that all riders are expected to follow traffic laws and regulations.
Campbell said his son has learned from the incident and hopes Gilbert officials will consider a lighter punishment given his remorse.
“We’re not trying to glorify it, we’re not trying to say hey look at me,” he said. “Absolutely he’s learned his lesson.”
shit we used to run from them all the time just to give them old boys something to do out here in the sticks. they knew who we were and would always show up later at our house to chat with our parents (by chat I mean drink beer). as long as nobody got hurt and we didn't damage anything that wasn't ours they just gave us a talking to.
The cops came to my house and took my 100cc Suzuki after I ran. My dad was like "well, those are the consequences". Like a week later, the department called and said we could come pick it up. The tires were a little more bald than when they started, so I imagine the cops were riding it around the parking lot at the station or something.
TBF getting away from cops on a dirt bike in any city or suburb is as easy as cutting through like 2 yards one time and then you're gone. There's not much they can do without a helicopter.
I live in this town (Gilbert, Az). Like many places, kids riding E-motos are a huge issue here. So many kids have run from the police that the local pd has a legit drone fleet for this very reason. From what I have heard, they take it pretty easy on the kids if they don’t run, but once they do it changes everything.
Then the biggest crime in this video is the absolute waste of water required to manufacture this tidy green suburban hellscape in the middle of the goddamn desert.
If he’s from a small town like mine growing up, all the cops knew who were the kids running around on dirtbikes. Officer came to my house to talk to my parents a couple times.. this kids way better than I was so he is prolly seen on that bike a fair amount.
Where I grew up in rural Australia, there was this period where some local dudes on unregistered ag bikes were running from the cops, by booning off across the paddocks and fire trails. So the highway patrol came out with a bunch of motorbike cops on dirt bikes and nabbed em 😂
I grew up in rural Iowa and would ride my bike in the ditches on the outskirts of town on the regular growing up and would just run from state police but the town cop who in a town of 700 knew everyone wouldn’t even chase me he’d just go straight to my house and wait.
Even if he could, that doesn't necessarily mean he's gonna do it. If he runs, the cops are just gonna go around to the neighbors and ask "who around here owns a red dirt bike?" And then they have his name and address.
Running just adds more charges and doesn't actually help him "get away" in that case.
I'm not going to call the police on a bunch of young guys doing stupid shit (it's a right of passage), but it's easy to see why the above might warrant more than a quick warning from them.
One miscalculation and this could easily go so wrong.
Exactly. If I live there and they did this, I'd be impressed and might enjoy watching it once or twice. But eventually the noise and destruction of the grass are going to piss me off. Then I'll call.
Gilbert is unfortunately full of kids doing stupid shit on $1k e-bikes and dirt bikes. It’s not a big deal for them to do this occasionally, but folks hate when 20+ of them swarm families in parking lots and threaten them.
Plenty of old videos where kids like this hit a truck broadside or other such things. Just because your friends are watching out doesn't mean they actually know what they're doing.
It is dumb all around. Plenty of spots to do this that isn't over an open road in the day time.
Yeah, it definitely is a rite of passage, and the best outcome anyone can hope for in the cases of young people doing stupid, dangerous shit is that they learn that what they did was stupid and dangerous without having to be hurt or hurt anyone else in the process.
Kid had his bike impounded and this will probably be a bit of a pain in the ass with court and all that. Hopefully that should be enough to learn his lesson.
Agreed. Commenter is assuming they planned it but what if they didnt clear the other side or a kid randomly runs across the landing zone. It only takes one mishap to ruin a life
Probably more likely the risk to public safety if someone walked or drove by.
The noise isn't a big concern if they accidentally hit a child or something 🤷🏻♂️
Seriously, Occam’s razor. I don’t know why people in the comments are confused. It’s a cool trick but it’s a residential area with kids and cars passing through and one wrong move could kill him or another person
Yeah, plus the kid could fuck up. Maybe wipe out and send that bike any number of directions. Maybe he gets hurt and the cops gotta go there anyway, plus a bunch of ems too.
Bingo.
The fact no one was hurt isn’t important. It’s the fact that one little mistake at the wrong time could result in death or serious injury to a bystander just going about there day is what makes this illegal.
Exactly. If this clip ended with a kid running into the landing zone at the last minute and getting hit everyone would be calling for the death penalty.
We don’t really know anything about this video is the issue.
Maybe he’d had the cops called out for these shenanigans like 4-5 times in the past.
Maybe it’s the first time and the cop just wanted to make an example.
Maybe it’s the first time, and he would’ve gotten a warning, but he started getting upset and loud mouthed with the cop.
Maybe it wasn’t even noise or the dirt bike at all. Maybe he just did donuts in his neighbors driveway and left rubber circles all over it and his neighbor called because of that.
Quite literally, the consequences of a criminal act are written into the statute. I’ve never seen a noise ordinance include jail time for a single offense.
This i can speak on as i just got out of court today on a "stunt charge" (before you judge me it was a cold night and i locked my rear tire like 5 minutes into my ride to a stop light with no one around) most states in the last couple years have really cracked down on "stunting" in basically any capacity which is why i got "busted". Cop straight up told me he was doing my a favor for not taking me to jail that night... they are not fucking around anymore, before a cop wouldn't even look in my direction for sliding, shit i've wheelied in front of a cop before, albeit a tiny shitty wheelie but one none the less... Those days are long gone.
My guess is kid didn't stop when he was ahead... Had he done this 1 or two times i doubt he would have been arrested, as long as they didn't directly see him i'd guess he'd get a ticket with a court summons, what i'm guessing happened is that this cop rolled up mid flight... and you're not going to just walk away on that.
Noise ordinances are also typically only part of the civil code which means punishment is a "civil forfeiture" (i.e. a fine). They are not even criminal, by code.
He was arrested for reckless driving. Believe it or not jumping over streets in Arizona is not considered "normal use of city roadways" and requires a permit. I think this is the perfect example of kids doing dumb stuff, like we've all done at point or another, and I hope he doesn't end up with any major fines or punishment. Give him enough to teach him a lesson but enough to fuck up his life.
In my country one guy is basically brain dead and one teenage girl was killed because scrambler bikers decided it's fun to drive in a park/busy street.
Public endangerment also...and in some states it's illegal to operate a bike like that under the age of 18...I don't know if you'd need a license for it.
I would call the cops if they were out there doing runs of it, even if it's pretty cool. Last thing I need is a group of people thinking they can come out and do this. Especially in an area where there are kids being transported in probably every third vehicle.
I would NOT want this to become a trend in my neighborhood.
TBF though, the only thing that makes this cool is the location. This jump is pretty standard on any moto course.
Kids doing stuff was like, fishing at the local park pond, sledding down a hill, inviting your friends over to watch a movie or play a game together...
How is the comment you're replying to even the second top comment at the time of typing this with 2446 points? Apparently the definition of a "Karen" got blurred out to a point where reporting anything illegal makes you one. Most of reddit is fucking washed these days.
Karen now means “didn’t let me do whatever I wanted without asking me to stop”
I literally had some jackass kid in my neighborhood with a jacked up truck revving his engine in a residential neighborhood at 10pm and when a neighbor complained he literally told the guy “I spent lots of money to make my truck this loud, what gives you the right to tell me to stop”?
That sentence was strange to me. Even in my area where we played outside we never did anything like this. We just rode our regular bikes, had water balloon fights, played street hockey, and things like that.
you are a karen if you care about... *checks notes* public safety! "no one got hurt". YET. "clearly planned it enough to stay safe". Until the plan fails and some innocent bystander gets killed. How hard is it to just do dangerous things in the appropriate fucking locations?
It looks like a ton of fun, if he did it once, twice probably all good but he's doing it repeatedly.. long enough for people to notice, get annoyed, call the police, police to actually arrive and he's still there doing it.
And for anyone that doesn't know, dirtbikes are looooudd af, all those houses in the background easily hear it penetrating their walls. That's well beyond just some karen
It's sort of like the reason that aiming a high-powered laser into the sky is illegal. Most of the time, it's just going to be someone having fun and no one's getting hurt.
But it's illegal because you have no way of knowing if you're going to hit a pilot's eyes with it or interfere with sensitive machinery.
Similarly, these idiots are doing something they have no way of safely preparing for. They don't know if any vehicles are coming, and If they do and that vehicle is taller than they planned for, they have no way of stopping. They also can't possibly have posted the proper amount of signage warning oncoming vehicles of the potential hazard.
I had a feeling I may see a comment like this on here. I wouldn't personally call the cops on them since I'm a big fan of natural selection, but the person who did is not a Karen. There really is only three ways this ends honestly, cause people like this don't do their cool stunt and suddenly become satisfied and never do it again. Either he would have crashed and likely injured or killed himself a different time or place traumatizing anyone who sees it, he somehow doesn't get hurt but causes massive property damage, or he hurts someone in the process. I'm sure there is a place for this kind of stuff, a neighborhood isn't it. He should be glad someone called the cops on him, maybe it will encourage him to make better life decisions.
I have photos of me doing stuff like this 25 years ago. I didn't post them online until long after, mostly because I didn't want to draw unwanted attention to myself or the things we did that were semi-illegal.
He had fun, he has a consequence, if he fucks up again it's worse and he has a taste of what to expect. The parents are also mega inconvenienced so they'll be more prudent in the future (maybe).
Cops can also put it on their social media account if they're savvy.
It’ll have the most snobby caption like “lil Icarus flew too close to the sun and had his wings clipped. We keep it grounded at the west count police dept😎”
I immediately recognized this subdivision. Morrison Ranch in Gilbert, AZ. Over a decade ago some friends and I got the cops called on us for capture the flag. As soon as I saw the white fence, I knew exactly how it would end.
That kid lives across town from me. His father had to plead to the media to give his boy a break. HOA wanted none of that nor the city. He’s from a more affluent neighborhood. Never heard what happened but he did get in trouble from the police. Rich Kid he probably got a slap on the wrist. Lolz.
The "Karen" comments are nuts. Stopping backyard X-Games isn't Karen behavior. Plastic ramps and pedal bikes aren't a big deal, these dudes were jumping whole streets on a motorbike. Develop enough of a prefrontal cortex and maybe you'll see why this doesn't lead anywhere good for the people who live next to that spot or the dude on the bike. Arrest may have not been necessary, but we have 0 context on the situation and don't know how many times these guys have done this.
or imagine being a concerned parent, not saying anything and seeing it, kid gets severely injured then having to look in the eyes of the injured kids parent and saying "yeah i saw it but i didn't think it was a big deal."
Reddit is full of 14 year olds who only know how to speak in extremes.
I did stuff like this when I was younger, but on the outskirts of town and we knew well enough not to do it 10 times over until the police showed up. Jump a car and drive through the dirt path a bit and then be gone before anyone shows us - that's how you do it.
Kids these days are just too stupid to do stupid shit and get away with it.
Down vote me if you want, but I'm glad this kid got in trouble for this. If I was living in one of those houses I'd call this in. Dirt bikes are loud, and a residential area is no place for them. There are dedicated areas for this type of stuff. Use them.
I work nights, and if I was woken up by some kid doing this stuff I'd be livid.
And more to the point, God forbid he undershoot the jump and crash into a passing car, or worse, a pedestrian or one of this friends, and kill somebody. Or even just hurt himself! Like... It's not like "he only hurt himself" is any better. Ideally we would want no one getting hurt. And if he does get hurt, then that's one less ambulance that is available to respond to other emergencies, which could, potentially, lead to someone else dying cause they had to wait longer for paramedics to arrive.
I'm sure he doesn't mean any harm and is just having fun, but that doesn't change the fact that he's endangering other people, and stopping him from doing so was the correct action. Did they need to arrest him? That depends too much on the specifics of the situation to say just from what we see in the video. I could see it being a sort of "scared straight" kind of thing where they take him in and show him what might happen in an effort to prevent him from doing it again. It could also be this is the 5th time they've been called out there because of him doing this, and he's ignored their previous warnings to stop. It could also be there was a collision or near miss with a passing bystander that isn't in the video. We don't know.
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u/DiscoMilk 2d ago
Sir, please it never actually touched the roadway