After doing donuts and burnouts on a busy street, a driver caught the attention of law enforcement. Sadly, while trying to escape the police, the suspect hit onlookers. That’s when a cop decided to put an end to the chaos — and it was all caught on video.
It’s not every day that you spot a large black pickup truck doing donuts on a busy city street, but that’s exactly what a Georgia State Patrol (GSP) trooper encountered on a Sunday when the driver of a Ford F-150 — later identified as Kevin Alves Da Saliva — drove recklessly in the middle of an Atlanta intersection.
In addition to doing donuts, Da Saliva also performed burnouts in the middle of the street, but that was far from the worst of it. As if blocking traffic at the intersection of Northside Drive NW and 17th Street — while engaging in dangerous moves with a hefty crowd gathered to watch — wasn’t bad enough, the driver decided to take things from bad to worse by attempting to escape law enforcement.
In his attempt to elude the GSP, Kevin Alves Da Saliva barreled into onlookers, 11 Alive reported. Unfortunately for him, things still wouldn’t go as he had likely hoped, and it was all caught on cellphone video. The footage not only recorded the driver’s dangerous showboating, but the video also captured him having a sudden change of plans when the flashing lights of law enforcement entered the scene, as well as the comeuppance he would soon receive.
When the trooper attempted to pull Da Saliva over, he immediately tried to get away. Sadly, onlookers seemed to have the same idea as they also tried to flee the scene. When some took off running, they found themselves directly in the Ford F-150’s path. The reality of running over pedestrians didn’t slow Da Saliva down. Instead, he “fled through the crowd striking several pedestrians, one of which suffered an injury,” the GSP told 11 Alive. Thankfully, the trooper was ready and able to intervene.
After chasing down the driver of the truck, the GSP trooper pulled a PIT maneuver on him, effectively bringing the truck to a stop, but the officer’s heroic actions were far from over. After exiting his patrol car with his gun drawn, the trooper seemingly took a “modified page from a Starsky & Hutch script” and hopped on top of the patrol car’s hood to reach into the truck, The Blaze reported.
With the driver in his reach, the officer pulled the suspect out of the truck, handcuffed him, and then introduced him to the pavement by laying him face-down in the street. Additional video captured another view of how it all went down, and it’s easy to see why the trooper was applauded for his “badass moves”:
Although the identity of the driver was not immediately released, Fox 5 Atlanta later revealed that the driver was identified as 20-year-old Kevin Alves Da Saliva of Marietta. GSP said the “felony stop” resulted in the suspect being “taken into custody.” He was “charged with fleeing and eluding – a felony, reckless driving, hit-and-run, and serious injury by motor vehicle.”
Chaotic scenes such as this one simply shouldn’t occur if people have an ounce of common sense, decency, and concern for their fellow man. Unfortunately, that didn’t seem to be the case for Kevin Alves Da Saliva, who put others at risk just to show off. Thankfully, we have brave officers in law enforcement, who put their lives on the line to bring an end to such shenanigans.
While some might criticize law enforcement nearly every time force is used, most of us — including GSP Captain Michael Burns — realize that it’s sometimes absolutely necessary to keep others safe. When someone is behind the wheel with complete disregard for the safety of others around them, they need to be stopped by any means necessary before innocent onlookers are hurt or killed.
“We have to balance the need for getting people stopped versus the danger it’s posing to the public,” Captain Burns told Atlanta News First. “Somebody who’s going to do donuts at 7:30 on a Sunday in heavy traffic obviously doesn’t care about anyone else’s safety,” he added, and we couldn’t agree more. Had this trooper not intervened, this story could have been about a senseless tragedy that stole innocent lives. So, job well done, officer!
