YouTube, you lose
Racer punished in 'Peg first
By DEAN PRITCHARD, SUN MEDIA
Warning to YouTube fans: Watch where you point that camera, your quest for Internet fame and glory could come back to haunt you.
In a Winnipeg first, a YouTube video has been used to slam the brakes on a street racer.
Glen Sta-Rosa, 20, pleaded guilty to one count of dangerous operation of a motor vehicle earlier this fall and was fined $2,200 and prohibited from driving for two years.
Sta-Rosa and a second man, Mark De Leon, were arrested last December after a five-minute video documenting their exploits was posted on YouTube, a popular video sharing website.
The video -- since removed from YouTube -- shows a car racing at high speeds with a 2000 Honda Civic on Wall Street near Tec-Voc High School. One scene shows the speedometer of one vehicle reaching 120 km/h.
STINGING COMMENTS
The Honda is also shown doing two sprints. At one point, the racers narrowly miss hitting a cyclist.
The edited footage was uploaded to YouTube in June 2006 and deleted after the link and stinging comments by two people in the local automotive industry were published in the Winnipeg Sun two months later.
Police had little trouble identifying their suspects. The videomakers included their names at the end of the clip and viewers got a glimpse of the driver's face and licence plate.