High-octane scofflaws have been instigating high-speed chases with the NYPD, and brazenly posting their escapades online for clout and clicks.
The motorheads — some of whom are members of a group called “swim team” — drive recklessly and bait cops to pursue them.
Driving high-end sports cars and SUVs, they lead the cops on 100-mph chases that go the wrong way down one-way streets, cross over into oncoming traffic, narrowly miss pedestrians, and blast through multiple red lights.
The speed freaks record and post the heart-racing footage online, with some videos attracting nearly a million views.
They often have cameras mounted to the front and back of their cars to film dual points of view.
Several recent videos show cars being chased by cops in Queens and Brooklyn, and even zig-zagging through traffic on the Belt Parkway and Long Island Expressway at recklessly high speeds.
Police are trying to determine who the drivers are in the chase videos, NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Public Information Tarik Sheppard said.
“We’re not going to tolerate lawlessness and anybody that we catch doing something like this is going to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” he said.
Examples of fast, furious, and frightening behavior include:
In an 8-minute long Sept. 21 video entitled “The most wild nyc police chase you will ever see,” a driver in a gray Infiniti with tinted windows is seen fleeing from cops who were trying to stop him in Astoria, leading them through red lights and into oncoming traffic.
The cops continued chasing the driver over the RFK Bridge and into the Bronx.
The video shows split-screen dash-cam footage from the front and rear of the vehicle as it flees a black, undercover police car that tried to stop the driver after his car tripped a license plate reader for a fake plate in Astoria, police said.
The car reaches speeds exceeding 100 mph.
The driver encounters heavy traffic with cops in tow on the RFK Bridge, and weaves in and out of traffic. The video shows “+10 points” when he strikes a highway traffic cone and “+100 points” when he appears to swipe a school bus while trying to pass it in the shoulder, making the chase look like a video game.
Another police cruiser joins the pursuit, which ends abruptly when a taxi appears to inadvertently pull in front of cops, allowing the driver to race off.
The video has collected 858,000 views on YouTube and was first reported by The Astoria Post.
Retired NYPD Lt. John Macari called the scofflaws “opportunists.”
“There’s no consequences even if they’re arrested. They have no fear of being arrested,” he said.
Macari said it’s all part of the continuing “emasculation” of the NYPD.
He equated the police chase problem with the scourge of shoplifting in the city.
“There’s no repercussions,” he said.
“That’s really what’s going on. It’s a lawless environment.”
The user who posted the video of the adrenaline-pumping chase insisted the driver in the clip hadn’t been baiting the police into a chase, but had accidentally purchased a car with expired temporary tags and no title, which would have been impounded if he were caught.
“It was a lot of money on the line for him, and the risk was worth it for him to run,” the user, who goes by Sean Sean, said.
Sean Sean, who has previously posted his own speeding videos online, added many roadsters have no qualms about running from the cops because the punishment, if any, is usually a slap on the wrist.
“They showed up at my house after [a chase], I got arrested, and actually I just pled guilty to reckless driving,” he said.
“I got five points on my license, and that’s it.”
People who share the videos include notices calling the imagery “fake” to bypass YouTube and social media monitors that would flag and remove them.
Damon McCoy, an associate professor at NYU focusing on online payment systems, said these viral clips can still bring in money via video ads on platforms like YouTube depending on how quickly their controversial videos are marked for demonetization.
“If it’s allowing them to be monetized for a day or two, that might be most of the money the video makes anyways,” McCoy said, adding the videos can also net the users new subscribers who boost their earnings.
The viral Sept. 21 cop-chase video could have brought in over $15,400, according to Influencer Marketing Hub, although Sean Sean said the video was quickly flagged for demonetization by YouTube, as are many other high-speed clips he has shared.
Retired NYPD Detective Thomas Burke, who worked in the Auto Crime Department for decades, said most of the cars have bogus plates on them so cops can’t track them.
“I see it everyday, people zipping through traffic all over the place,” he said.
“What do you get them for? Reckless endangerment, a misdemeanor?”
The second, shorter video was also posted on Reddit at r/Astoria where one commenter asked users to report them.
“Report these videos on YouTube so they get taken down,” BigPoppaPumpkinhead wrote.
A user called maggoonie was on a bike that was almost hit by the BMW driver in the second video.
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“The guy almost hit me with the car at a red light,” the user wrote.
“I was lucky.”
On YouTube, a user wondered how a person could get away scot-free when there’s a video of their misdeed online.
“It’s truly insane how you can have video evidence of you fleeing the cops and still be free,” they wrote.
“What a time to be alive.”
A police source said cops weren’t sure if the drivers were actually posting the videos.
The NYPD has been working on a formal policy for when to chase cars, officials have said.
Police chases are controversial because they can lead to collateral damage to uninvolved drivers and pedestrians.
The problem is that the speed demons are unlikely to face serious consequences after they’re arrested, said a police officer with more than 20 years on the job, who asked to remain anonymous because he wasn’t cleared to talk to the media.
“Nothing will happen to them,” the officer said, bemoaning the city’s “lax criminal justice system.”
“They’ll be right back out there the next day.”
Sean Sean admitted that videos he and others posted online are having a dangerous influence on younger drivers.
“I had this kid on, and he said he got caught running from the police — he directly said, ‘I’d seen it on YouTube and I felt like I could do it,'” he said.