24 Minutes to Get Around Manhattan

Driver Who Did 24-Minute Loop Of Manhattan Says He Was "Driving Safely" http://gothamist.com/2013/09/07/drive_who_did_24-minute_loop_of_man.php This week, police arrested Christopher Tang, the driver who released a video claiming he had set the record for the fastest loop around Manhattan. Tang, 30, is accused of driving from the FDR Drive around to the Henry Hudson Parkway and back in 24 minutes.... [more]

Driver Who Did 24-Minute Loop Of Manhattan Says He Was "Driving Safely" http://gothamist.com/2013/09/07/drive_who_did_24-minute_loop_of_man.php This week, police arrested Christopher Tang, the driver who released a video claiming he had set the record for the fastest loop around Manhattan. Tang, 30, is accused of driving from the FDR Drive around to the Henry Hudson Parkway and back in 24 minutes. Tang defended himself in statements to police, arguing that he was "driving safely" despite racing across Manhattan around 4 a.m. on August 26th. "I was out for a drive and I wanted to see how quickly I could drive around Manhattan," he said. "I took the entire ride of 26 miles in 24 minutes. I was exceeding the speed limit, although I did not hit 100 miles per hour." Tang, who is a professional day trader, has been charged with reckless endangerment, reckless driving, speed violation and traffic device violation for the drive. He admitted that he "did go through a red light (but) it was not at an intersection. It was only at a pedestrian crossing." Prosecutors argued that Tang, who has lived for two-and-a-half years in NYC with his wife, has "numerous" past driving violations and is a potential flight risk. He "makes enough money day trading that he doesn't even need to do anything else for support." Tang faces up to a year in prison if convicted. Tang previously bragged that he wasn't worried about being caught: "You frankly can't identify who I am by just looking at the video and records were meant to be broken. I'll release my name a year from now," he told Jalopnik. According to the Times, police were able to recreate the ride by using surveillance video, which helped them to track down Tang. [less]