An 18-year-old motorist didn't realize he was being videotaped by Washington State Patrol's Smokey 3 aircraft Sunday night as he "turned I-5 through Seattle into his own race track," troopers said.
Story Published:
Aug 18, 2009 at 1:21 PM PST
Story Updated:
Aug 18, 2009 at 4:15 PM PST
SEATTLE - An 18-year-old motorist didn't realize he was being videotaped by Washington State Patrol's Smokey 3 aircraft Sunday night as he "turned I-5 through Seattle into his own race track," troopers said.
Video shot by the aircraft showed the man's car speeding, weaving in and out of traffic, cutting off other motorists and even passing vehicles on the right shoulder.
A few minutes later, it all came to an end, said Trooper Dan McDonald.
The aircraft's crew guided highway-based state troopers to the car when it pulled over on the shoulder of an exit ramp, where they caught the driver urinating in the bushes with his buddies.
The incident began sometime before 9 p.m. on Sunday when the Smokey 3 air crew spotted the man's car racing with another vehicle in the northbound lanes of I-5.
The aircraft followed the car for several minutes, videotaping its reckless path up the highway.
When the car stopped, on the right shoulder of the exit ramp to SR 104, troopers pulled up in their patrol cars and found all four of the vehicle's occupants outside the car urinating in the bushes.
Yuriy V. Gorun of Ferndale, the driver, was arrested and booked into King County Jail for investigation of reckless driving and reckless endangerment.
Two of the passengers - Peter Datskiv, a 20-year-old Bellingham resident, and Alex Datskiv, a 20-year-old Mount Vernon resident - were arrested for investigation of minor in possession and consumption of alcohol.