ST. LOUIS _ The latest homemade video of a daring stunt motorcyclist is making the rounds on social media _ and St. Louis police are featured in an unlikely role.
Stunt riders long have boasted that St. Louis is a haven for them. Some say St. Louis police are so preoccupied with violent crime that they don't crack down on the bikers' antics.
The latest video, posted several places online over the weekend, shows a rider standing on the seat of a motorcycle doing a wheelie in the 4900 block of Natural Bridge Road in broad daylight. As the westbound motorcycle catches up to a marked police car from the Sixth District, the rider extends his right foot to the outstretched hand of the police officer.
A fist bump, of sorts.
Both directions of Natural Bridge are fairly crowded at the time, and the police car and motorcyclist ride in tandem and appear to touch as they pass through the intersection of North Kingshighway. The rider then does an additional stunt _ jumping to push his legs above the handlebars in a V shape, all while a motorcyclist behind him records the event.
The motorcycle is moving in the left lane, and the officer in the right. After a few blocks, the police officer pulls ahead and appears to continue on his way.
One Facebook post has more than 116,000 views and has been shared nearly 2,000 times. Two men who appear from social media posts to be involved in the video could not immediately be reached for comment.
St. Louis police are aware of the video, and an internal investigation is under way, said a department spokesman, Sgt. Keith Barrett.
"If an officer were to witness a stunt rider, they would be ticketed for whatever traffic violations they committed," such as careless and imprudent driving, Barrett said in an email.
Missouri Highway Patrol spokesman Juston Wheetley said he has seen clips of the video but is not familiar with the specifics of what happened that day. Because the video involves another agency, Wheetley said he could speak only in general terms about how stunt riders are treated by the patrol.
Wheetley said Missouri law requires riders to have control of their vehicle. Someone who is standing up on a bike and doing a wheelie is not in control, Wheetley said.
"They are not in control of the vehicle because their steering wheel is not on the ground," he said. "They have to be seated and driving it the way it was intended to be driven or ridden."
Riders caught doing wheelies are typically cited for careless and imprudent driving, a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine. Other tickets can be tacked on for speeding and license or insurance violations.
When the stunts are performed on interstates, they are particularly dangerous, Wheetley said. "If they lose control, a lot of things could go wrong. If you fall off your bike at the speeds they are traveling on interstates, it could result in death."
Wheetley said stunt riding is worse in summer months. A trooper who sees a stunt rider next to him would try to stop the rider, Wheetley said, assuming it was safe to do so and the trooper wasn't on his way to a more serious call.
St. Louis has cracked down on riders before. Area police officials came together in a news conference in 2013 to say they would have zero tolerance for any mischief when 3,000 riders were coming to town as part of the "Streetfighterz Ride of the Century" event.
Ride participants say most who rode in the annual celebration were law-abiding, and that police were unfairly singling them out.
