“It was a Sunday. There were kids in the park.”

Illegally riding his motorbike in Darlington, Karl Burnside reached speeds of 80mph when he sped away from police motorcycle officers.

During a lengthy pursuit, the 20-year-old ran red lights, rode on the wrong side of the road, and entered a public park filled with unsuspecting pedestrians.

When the officers briefly lost sight of him, Burnside crashed his bike into a river.

Freezing cold and unable to speak coherently, he was quickly found nearby and arrested by Darlington Neighbourhood Police Team officers.

He was taken to hospital to receive treatment for hypothermia, before being charged with several driving offences including dangerous driving, failing to stop for police, and driving without a licence or insurance.

Appearing at Newton Aycliffe Magistrates’ Court last week, Burnside was banned from driving for 12 months, given a community order and fine, and ordered to carry out rehabilitation activity and 300 hours of unpaid work.

Operation Endurance – funded by Durham Police and Crime Commissioner Joy Allen – is our ongoing campaign to address the harm caused by illegal and antisocial use of motorcycles, using a range of tactics including drone technology.

We proactively target offenders with warnings, seizures, and behaviour contracts, gathering intelligence so we can stop their offending.

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42 Comments

  1. Absolutely shocking sentence. Placed scores of innocent people at risk with his reckless, unlicensed and uninsured stupidity, walked out of court laughing.

    Don't blame the cops, blame the courts. Soft judges & magistrates, hiding behind soft sentencing guidelines. Previous Tory govt is responsible for those rules, but Labour aren't doing enough to toughen the system. They're all failing us.

  2. Fair play to the officer with the stinger, timed perfectly to sting the target and withdraw before the pursuing officers reached him.

  3. So Karl heard If it rides like a jet ski and sounds like a jet ski then it must be a jet ski, Karl found out that the flaw in the plan was it sunk like a regular motorcycle.

  4. Another white kid? Gee, I thought Britain's problems came by small boat. I guess MicroTommy will have to blame it on somebody else then?

  5. Well, went as expected – but with first aid after someone being in the water – there is much place for improvement.
    The rescue blanket isn´t doing much good wrapped around wet clothing (yes, will prevent wind effects – but not really helping)
    If you don't want to undress the culprit – one grip from the neck underneath the clothing, grab the blanket an pull it up. wrap the rest around the body.
    If you are really helpful, make a knot at one corner, so that you can a.) pull easy, b.) have a kind of hoodie for the head.

  6. I bet he got a shock when he saw the water he was just about to go into shame it wasn`t on video he looked like a very useful member of society

  7. And is that really justice!! Scumbag causes danger to the public!! Waste of oxygen deserves prison time and all the lady officer is concerned with is HIS welfare ffs!!

  8. As a born biker… I always had urges to want to be a Traffic biker as bike theives, drink drivers and phone users P me off – I always wanted to be the only one to be able to give the chase… Because of regulations "back in the day"… I never went down that route and I'm glad I didn't as I'd now be useless and stuck of "tweet" duty… Best thing the Police ever did recently was authorise TPAC for motorcycle theives with no helmet! ☺️☺️☺️🥰 One of the biggest theft deterrents to scum is feeling a tonnes or German X5 up your bum…. Where as "back in the day" they just had to whip the helmet off and pursuit was cancelled due to risk to life!…. I've had 4 motorbikes stolen… Some sentimental and left unknown and some burned out for fun…. 😬😬😬😬 God bless unhindered TPAC!

  9. Please point to the kids playing in the park, I do not see them. There was no danger other than to himself that I could see there . He had a police escort (with siren's) all the time.
    The punishment is also excessive Ban and fine i would agree but wtf 300 hour's unpaid, olso what is rehab activity?
    This sounds unjust and cruel. No one was hurt in this video.

  10. A custodial sentence must not be imposed unless the offence (or the combination of the offence and one or more offences associated with it) was so serious that neither a fine alone nor a community sentence can be justified. (according to guidelines). for me, a curfew should also have been given. seems to have more effect on someone who is young. 7pm to 7am is a real downer especially round xmas/ new year and bbq season.

  11. DICKHEAD …JAIL HIM ….NO OTHER SOLUTION😢
    Why should these guys have to
    Put up with the likes of him!?
    Brilliant Policing and Riding …
    Well Done Lads!

  12. A very light sentence for behaviour that could have killed or seriously injured one or more people. I’m surprised the police were so polite and considerate, especially since they mist have attended fatal ‘accidents’.

  13. Best stinger ever? Not really, yeah it was expertly deployed but he kept on riding, the police lost him and it was only luck that they found him again. Not detracting from the the difficult task they face, only made more difficult because they aren’t backed by the courts

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