An 18-year-old's dirt bike stunt, which entailed a 15-foot-high airborne jump across a residential street, ended not in applause, but with handcuffs on his wrists and his bike in police custody, as detailed by FOX 10 Phoenix; the jump occurred on Recker Road, a location that is very close to nearby homes and the remnants of the bike's landing were still visible in the grass.
Despite the video of the teen's jump gathering close to one million likes and 17 million views on Instagram, the Gilbert Police Department deemed the act "careless, outrageous," according to an interview Officer Travis Sheppard had with FOX 10 Phoenix, where he expressed concern for the safety of the neighborhood during the stunt, noting there were "young moms out walking their kids, people coming home from work, kids trying to make their way back home" at 3:30 in the afternoon, when the jump took place, which they found disturbing because it was unexpected and potentially dangerous.
Nick Campbell, the father of the rider, Sam Campbell, expressed his son's regret over the situation in a statement obtained by FOX 10 Phoenix, mentioning that his son is "very contrite about it" and that he "wishes he could go back and fix it," while the local community's response has been mixed, with an outpouring of online support contrasting sharply with neighbors' frustrations, one of whom, Kelly Richards, questioned parental oversight, as reported by Yahoo News.
This was not the first occurrence of such stunts in the area with Gilbert Police dealing with similar incidents, having posted a video in October of another jump resulting in an arrest for reckless driving; however, this hasn't deterred support for Sam Campbell, with a crowdfunding effort on a GoFundMe page raising thousands of dollars to help reclaim his impounded bike, which police have retained as evidence in their ongoing criminal investigation as Sam eyes redemption and continues his studies to become a nuclear engineer, his father revealed to Yahoo News even as one concerned neighbor looks forward to the trees growing quickly thereby naturally prohibiting future jumps.
