TAMPA, Fl. (WFLA) – A motorcyclist gave at least one family quite the scare Saturday, as he kicked back with his hands behind his head for a few moments while cruising down I-4.
Eric Medeiros-Rice was heading home to Clearwater from Disney World when he looked up a noticed a motorcycle weaving between cars near Plant City.
“Suddenly he decides to lift his legs up and lay back, lay his neck back and do a little stunt,” Medeiros-Rice explained. “He could have hurt someone or killed somebody, it’s very reckless.”
Medeiros-Rice grabbed for his phone and managed to record some video as the motorcyclist repeated the stunt a couple times before darting off. Medeiros-Rice said he didn’t manage to get the license plate, otherwise he would have reported the man’s stunt to the authorities.
Medeiros-Rice then shared his video with News Channel 8.
The biker was not wearing a helmet, as Medeiros-Rice notes in the video. However, motorcyclists do not have to wear helmets under Florida law.
Whether it’s poppin’ wheelies or steering with feet, wild motorcycle stunts caught on camera are nothing new for Florida highways.
David Constant, general manager at Harley Davidson of Tampa said stupid stunts give safety-conscious riders like him a bad rap.
“The culture is you want to ride a Harley, you want to be an enthusiast, you want to be as safe as you possible can,” Constant explained. “So we endorse that.”
Florida Highway Patrol’s Troop C (Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Polk, Hernando, Citrus and Sumter counties) has worked an average of 65 motorcycle wrecks a month in 2019, just slightly higher than 2018’s average of 63.
Eighteen people in those counties have died in motorcycle wrecks in 2019, and nearly all the crashes involved injuries, according to FHP statistics.
Medeiros-Rice hopes to not give Saturday’s stuntman attention by sharing the video, but instead get the man’s attention.
“Grow up,” he said. “You’re going to hurt somebody if you don’t stop.”