NYC 'Speed Racer' Arrested After Viral Video

By Brett Snider, Esq. on September 06, 2013 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

Move over Vin Diesel, one New Yorker is really living his life one quarter-mile at a time -- that is, until his record-breaking street racing landed him in police custody on Thursday.

Christopher Adam Tang -- nicknamed "Speed Racer," according to New York's WABC-TV -- did his eponymous cartoon hero proud by circumnavigating Manhattan in 24 minutes and 7 seconds, setting speed records and breaking several traffic laws.

Tang, 30, has no Racer X to taunt him, but it may be a while before he's behind the wheel again.

Reckless Driving Racing

Tang's wild ride took place August 26, when he managed to shave 1:56 off the previous purported record, WABC-TV reports. Though he ran at least one red light, he conscientiously stopped at six others.

Still, this "Speed Racer" faces a litany of charges, including:

Only the first two charges above involve possible jail time. In New York, reckless endangerment can possibly be charged as a felony.

Whether he's found guilty of a felony will depend largely on whether Tang had a "depraved indifference" to human life. Much like a second degree murder charge, first degree reckless endangerment requires an act that creates grave risk of death to others in addition to a demonstrated disinterest in preventing that risk.

Street racing without a doubt creates a risk to human life, but it is uncertain whether Tang was uncaring or unsafe enough to warrant a felony conviction.

Posting the Crime on YouTube

NYPD officers may not have caught up with Tang -- also nicknamed "Afroduck," according to the New York Daily News -- without the help of a YouTube video of his record-setting lap around the Big Apple.

You can see that video here:

Not only is a YouTube video of street racing fantastic, court-ready evidence of an alleged crime, but videos of people flaunting their disdain for the rule of law tends to rub law enforcement the wrong way.

It could be that "Speed Racer" Christopher Adam Tang knew the risks of posting the video, and did it anyway. While Tang waits for his case to proceed, his car, a 2006 BMW Z4, is now going nowhere fast -- it's sitting in a police impound lot.

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