Kawasaki, Chaos and a €6,400 Lesson in Lunacy

It was Monday evening. Some of us were making sandwiches, others browsing Netflix for something new. But one 1988-born Latvian citizen figured it was the perfect time—not for a quiet commute, but for a scene straight out of an action flick. Straddling a stolen Kawasaki, hellfire underfoot, and likely not a trace of traffic law in mind.

It all started innocently enough: police spotted a motorcycle on the highway missing its license plate. When officers gave a friendly signal to pull over, the rider answered not with cooperation, but with throttle—accelerating into the distance at a blistering 209 km/h.

The game of “catch me if you can” took a turbocharged turn in Spuņciems, about twenty kilometers outside Riga, where our protagonist blasted through a 50 km/h zone at 184. Even most birds would struggle to flap that fast.

But the police weren’t about to let it go. They issued repeated orders to stop—met only with fresh offenses, reckless moves, and sheer disdain for anything resembling a rule. Reinforcements were called in, because what is a proper chase without backup? Eventually, even the Kawasaki threw in the towel—or rather, hit the asphalt and slid out.

The bike came to a halt. The rider ended up in the hospital, perhaps realizing that adrenaline isn’t a great substitute for shock absorbers. And the joyride? Turned out far pricier than a day at a legal drag strip.

Turns out the motorcycle had been reported stolen the previous summer, and the outlaw’s bravura performance now earned its encore: fifteen administrative penalties. No helmet, no license, no insurance, no inspection, unregistered, no plates, illegal speed, wrong lane, and about ten other creative violations. Total fines? Over €6,400.

But hey, at least the man now knows exactly how fast a Kawasaki can go. And we all got a reminder that when stupidity costs, sometimes the bill comes with four digits.