A San Diego motorcyclist was caught going 181 mph on a San Diego freeway and is now accused of felony evading, reckless driving, street racing and being an unlicensed driver, according to officials with the California Highway Patrol.
Scott Meiner, 32, was going 181 mph on Interstate 15 at 5:40 p.m. on March 29 -- a Sunday -- riding in the HOV lane near the Mira Mesa Boulevard exit, the CHP said on Wednesday. Officers did not pursue Meiner, according to officials, who said he was last seen running a red light on Mira Mesa Boulevard.
"Our units were conducting a lidar incident and, basically, they got this motorocyle going 181 and weren't able to catch up to it," CHP spokesman Salvador Castro told NBC 7 on Wednesday. "So we forwarded all the information to our investigators, and a couple of months later, they were able to identify the [rider] and link them to several street-racing and reckless-driving incidents, and also running from several police officers from various law enforcement agencies on numerous occasions."
Lidar "is similar in operation to radar but emits pulsed laser light instead of microwaves," according to Merriam-Webster.com.
The CHIP did not have details available on Wednesday regarding the other alleged incidents.
Meiner's Facebook page bio describes his interests as "motorcycles, golf, cars and work. Training to circuit race in the Isle of Man TT and MGP by '22."
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The Isle of Man Tourist Trophy race typically takes place on the island between Great Britain and Ireland in late spring in the British Island. The top lap speed of 135.452 mph was set in 2018, according to IOMTT.com. "MGP" is often used as an abbreviation for the Manx Grand Prix, a sort of tuneup race for the Isle of Man TT that takes place on that island. The races are run on public roads, with a lap distance of about 37 miles.
Meiner's Facebook includes a photograph of a green and black Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10 motorcycle, which has a list price starting at $15,399, according to Kawasaki.com, and a top speed of 180 mph, per TopSpeed.com.
Castro said CHP investigators executed search warrants on Tuesday and took Meiner into custody. He was then booked into the San Diego County Jail and released sometime before 1 p.m. on Wednesday. The case has been referred to the city attorney's office, according to Castro.
The California Highway Patrol issued a lot more tickets to motorists feeling the need for speed on roadways where lanes are wide open during the early days of coronavirus pandemic, officials said in April.
From March 19, when the stay-at-home order began, through April 19, officers issued 2,493 citations to drivers in California who were suspected of speeding in excess of 100 mph, the CHP said. That's compared to 1,335 during the same period last year — marking an 87% increase.
NBC 7 has attempted to contact Meiner for this story but has not yet heard back.
