Pennsylvania Government Hands YouTuber a Stack of Charges for TRX Jump
TRX was badly damaged in the jump, but the state claims that the small stream was damaged worse.
Street Speed 717 recently became infamous in the Mopar world when he smashed-up the front of his brand new Ram 1500 TRX during a poorly planned jump stunt. With many people waiting for their new TRX to arrive, many were upset that one of the first supercharged Rams delivered went to someone who was going to destroy it for YouTube clicks. As it turns out, it isn’t just Ram fans who didn’t care for the jump video. The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission didn’t like the video. In fact, the government agency was so bothered by the video that some of their people inspected the area where the weak TRX jump took place and in doing so, they found that the modern day court jester had broken a few laws.
As a result, the YouTuber was served with 18 different charges, all of which relate to illegally playing in or around a body of water. In one of his recent videos, Street Speed detailed those charges, proclaimed his innocence and bragged about how much he pays in taxes.
TRX Jump Leads to Charges
Like most popular YouTube videos, the title focused on one topic while much of the video is just mindless, pointless filler to reach the proper length. The video below starts with five and a half minutes of the YouTuber, whose real name is Mike, talking about the C8 Corvette that he has abused for a while and is now giving away. He then spends a bunch of time at the end of the video talking about the property that he is planning to convert into a safe place for him to film his shenanigans.
In the middle of the video, Mike explains the charges filed against him by the State of Pennsylvania or, more specifically, the Fish and Boat Commission. This governing body is in place to protect people from doing things that would be particularly harmful to the state’s waterways, as well as issuing permits for fishing and boating or handing out tickets for fishing or boating incorrectly. As Mike has learned, that state body also oversees how various land is used when it has water on it…even when that body of water is relatively insignificant.
However, that small creek over which the YouTuber launched his Ram 1500 TRX is significant enough for the Pennsylvania state government to charge Mike with 18 different violations, some of which he claims are similar to being charged with a DUI. That comparison is very extreme, but his charges could lead to some hefty fines.
Details of the Charges
Mike begins with a rundown of the charges, which include two counts of disturbing waterways or watersheds, six counts of allowing poison to fish, six counts of littering near waters and four counts of running a vehicle in any stream. That is 18 charges for what was really a pretty sad attempt at a jump with a new Ram 1500 TRX.
He then goes into detail on the charges, pointing out that the two counts of disturbing waterways or watersheds were issued because he didn’t have a permit to do so. He points out that he didn’t have a permit because he was on private property and the property owner had invited him there to perform the stunt.
He explains that it is a hard-bed stream that is only an inch deep in places, without any sign of wildlife. He didn’t disturb the footing of the waterway or any animals, but he is still being charged with doing so without a permit.
Next, Mike points out that he did not do anything to poison any fish. While the Ram 1500 TRX sustained a fair amount of damage, he claims that nothing was leaking after the impact. Nothing poisonous was leaking out of the truck when he got it home, so it is unlikely that anything leaked immediately after the jump.
The third batch of charges for “littering near waters” seems to be the one with the most likelihood of being enforced. We have a hard time believing that Mike and his crew picked up every single piece of debris that broke off of the truck on impact. There was quite a bit of damage to plastic bits across the front end and the rear window blew out, leading to lots of small pieces of debris scattered through the foliage around the tiny stream. However, he calls the charge “insane”, going on to say that “I don’t litter anywhere” and “didn’t leave nothing there”.
Finally, he touches on the last four counts of running a vehicle in any stream, which is an issue because he did not take the most direct manner. Really, jumping over the stream seems like the most direct option, but the state disagrees.
The YouTuber closes by explaining that his lawyer is involved and that “the people who wrote this must really hate me”. He claims that in using private property with the permission of the owner, he wouldn’t need the state’s permission. He then goes on to point out that he pays “literally hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes” and that “they are really trying to throw the book at me”. He is right, they are throwing the book at him, but it seems likely that the state is looking to deter viewers from doing the same stupid stunts with tired vehicles that are more likely to leak fluids into the water.
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