Ryan Findanis: dirt bike rider charged over burnout in front of police in Sutherland
A competitive dirt bike rider who was caught red-handed doing a burnout directly in front of a fully marked police car could not hide his astonishment when police arrested and charged him with reckless driving.
St George Shire Standard
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A competitive dirt bike rider was busted doing a burnout in his Subaru directly in front of a marked police car as officers passed through a busy suburban shopping strip.
Ryan Findanis, 22, was charged with reckless driving after alarmed pedestrians saw him ripping through a 10km/h shared zone on Eton St, Sutherland in his Subaru BRZ.
The Helensburgh man was unable to hide his shock when he was pulled over by the police driving immediately behind him.
“Police asked the accused why (he thought) he was stopped and asked a number of questions,” police facts stated.
“The accused replied ‘you’re going to arrest me for a burnout?’.”
Court documents state it was raining on January 18 when Findanis started driving erratically through the main street beside the Sutherland Shire Council chambers.
“Police were travelling directly behind the accused in a fully marked police car,” police facts stated.
“Police observed the accused’s vehicle to harshly accelerate – the accused’s vehicle immediately lost traction and aggressively fishtailed for approximately 20m.”
Officers say Findanis’ vehicle continued to swerve and fishtail from side to side for 20m, narrowly missing parked cars and pedestrians in the shared zone before they pulled him over.
Findanis pleaded guilty and was convicted, fined $1000 and disqualified from driving for 12 months at Sutherland Local Court on Thursday.
“Police are of the strong opinion that the accused’s driving behaviour was dangerous,” police facts stated.
“Police at the same time were flagged down by pedestrians so they could stop the dangerous behaviour of the accused.”
The court heard Findanis was on bail at the time on a charge of assault causing actual bodily harm related to an alleged incident involving another man in Helensburgh in December 2019.
He remains before Wollongong Local Court on that charge.
Findanis is a competitive motocross rider who frequently competes in the East Coast MX Series, the MX Nationals and the Dirt Action Amcross series.
After his appearance in court Findanis posted on Instagram “a bump in the road don’t stop a marathon”.
“It is what it is,” Findanis wrote.
