Durham Constabulary shares video of 130mph motorcycle chase
A motorcyclist in Northern England leads police on a 33-mile, 130mph chase.
Durham police have shared a video featuring a motorcyclist attempting (and failing) to escape them at speeds up to 130 mph.
In a slickly edited video featuring the fleeing motorcyclist's own helmet-cam footage (we’ve talked about this before, kids - the first rule of Breaking The Law Club is: don’t tell people when you’re breaking the law), police engage in a 33-mile chase that ends with the scofflaw having an almost cordial conversation with his pursuers.
It all started on a cold, wet afternoon in late February of this year, when Dean Bruce, of no fixed abode, was spotted by Durham Constabulary motorbike officer PC Simpson.
It’s hard to say exactly what drew PC Simpson’s attention here. Durham Constabulary says that Bruce “was spotted riding at high speeds in wet conditions.” But the video evidence doesn’t seem to wholly support that.
Bruce’s helmet camera certainly records him exceeding the speed limit beforehand, but when he first encounters PC Simpson he is traveling well below that. Thanks to the sat-nav on PC Simpson’s dash, we know that the speed limit is 60 mph on the road where the two meet. When Bruce first spots PC Simpson, he is coming out of a roundabout. He dips his head slightly just as he passes the motorbike officer - presumably because he is looking down to check his speed - and we can see that he is travelling at 30 mph.
Perhaps that’s a slightly spirited pace for exiting a roundabout on a rainy day but it still strikes us as interesting that PC Simpson decides to initiate pursuit. Whatever the case, he wheels his bike around and the chase is on. And soon Bruce is offering up all kinds of reasons for the chase, tearing through residential areas, riding on the wrong side of the road, psychotic overtakes and filtering, and pushing his bike to speeds that - quite frankly - we didn’t think were achievable on a Kawasaki ER-6F.
Well done, Kawasaki. No wonder so many Chinese manufacturers copied your engine.
At least, that’s what we think he’s riding here, with the style of dash suggesting it’s from model years 2009-2011. Keeping one’s eye on that dash once Bruce joins the A1, you’ll see that it ticks all the way up to 129 mph. PC Simpson’s forward dash camera records speeds up to 132 mph as he calmly stays on Bruce’s tail.
‘Calmly’ is definitely the right word to use here. Listen to how relaxed he is while relaying information to the National Police Air Service (NPAS) helicopter that joins in the chase.
“Speed one-two-zero,” he says, disaffectedly. “Medium risk due to speed.”
He is going 120 mph when he says this. Anytime I’ve ever ridden that fast in my life I’ve been screaming. And it hasn’t been raining!
With NPAS as part of the pursuit, Bruce’s capture becomes pretty much inevitable. It’s hard to outrun a helicopter. As he draws close to Newcastle city centre, the motorcycle element of the chase is called off due to concerns about the number of people in town for a football match. Durham Constabulary cheekily provides the final score of that match: Newcastle 4, Nottingham Forest 3 - Howay the lads!
Eventually police catch up with Bruce in the North Tyneside town of Wallsend, where he is seen giving his things to an accomplice. As he does so, he looks up and spots the helicopter that’s been chasing, then seemingly goes and stands by his bike to wait to be arrested. Officer bodycam footage shows him placing his hands behind his back - ready to receive handcuffs - as soon as they arrive.
And this is where things will get really surreal for our US readers. There’s no shouting, no waving of weapons, no screamed commands, just people interacting in the sort of relaxed, disinterested, going-through-the-motions way that most of us chat with work colleagues at 4:30 pm on a Friday.
“Alright, mate,” says a motorbike officer (maybe PC Simpson) as he pulls up. “Just to let you know, you’re under arrest.”
In detaining Bruce’s accomplice, officers use the Northern term of endearment of “flower.” As the police are explaining why Bruce is being arrested he offers up additional charges.
“No license,” he says.
“False plate?” asks an officer.
“Yeah,” Bruce acknowledges, almost with a grin.
At the end of it, Bruce was given a 15-month jail sentence and a 31-month driving ban. If he ever decides to try to get an actual driving/motorcycle license, he will be required to take the extended test.
For more motorcycle news written by humans, stick with Visordown.
Chris Cope is a fourth-generation journalist, originally from Texas. He has lived in the UK for roughly two decades and has been writing about motorcycles for most of that time. He has written for dozens of publications and websites in the UK, US, Canada, and Australia.
