A driver who captured the moment he pursued thieves at high speed through a suburban American town has left people online horrified at HIS risky maneuvers after the video was viewed close to 200,000 times.
Together with a friend, the driver appears to give chase to the thieves who speed away after stealing a motorcycle and loading it into a trailer.
YouTube user Ricky Von Ricky uploaded the video on Saturday but removed it from the site a day later.
He originally wrote: "I was at my friend’s house last night, he heard his strange sound outside so he decided to check on his motorcycle.
The thieves' getaway car cuts into a residential street and slams into parked cars
"He yelled for me and I immediately know what was going on. I ran outside and the thieves were speeding away. I jumped in my car and yelled for my friend to grab his cell phone. We chased them and this is what happened."
A risky high-speed chase ensues, with hairpin turns and red lights almost completely ignored -- all captured on a 1080p HD dashboard camera.
At one point, the chase turns into a residential street and the thieves’ getaway car smashes into parked cars causing sparks to fly.
The thieves’ trailer appears heavily damaged after the chase
All the while, the passenger is chronicling the event on the phone to the police at times demanding officers hurry to their ever changing location.
The passenger tells police that his high-specification motorcycle has been taken by a gang, loaded into a trailer and attached to a car.
After coming to a halt in an eerily quiet goods yard, the passenger begins to flag his location to the police.
A minute or so later, the passenger launches himself out of his vehicle, hurrying towards a police car whilst gestating wildly. As one commenter on YouTube noted, "Whoa dude, that’s not what you do there."
But others were more concerned with the safety of those not involved in the chase.
"Congrats, you put the lives of others at risk and broke the law, just to recover a badly damaged motorbike. You need to wise the f*ck up," another wrote.
The owner of the bike runs towards a police car
And the driver's subsequent efforts to monetise the video have enraged people further.
"(You) posted a video of you recklessly putting everyone else on the road at risk as if you're some kind of hero, put ads on the video, put a licensing contact email in the description expecting exposure and money," a user wrote.
"I hope the police decide to nail you with the video as evidence. If not, I hope you get T-boned by someone running a red light one day."
And perhaps this is the reason Von Ricky removed the video on Sunday...