‘Afroducking’ The Law: Deadly Excuses For Endangering Others

Afroduck turned chicken: Adam Tang, who used that pseudonym after recording himself looping Manhattan in record time 15 months ago, jumped bail rather than face a jury for his crime. It's not as special a case as it seems.

And good for Manhattan DA Cy Vance for showing that New York will enforce the rules that save lives.

Tang made his “Afroduck” alter ego famous last year when he posted a video of himself speeding around Manhattan's periphery in 24 minutes, 7 seconds.

Of course, he didn't want his real identity known. He told Jalopnik (a cars-for-boys website), “You frankly can't identify who I am by just looking at the video.”

Tang promised to “release my name a year from now” — when police and prosecutors had forgotten about him — to get credit for breaking “records [that] were meant to be broken.”

The NYPD was faster — catching Tang 11 days after his wild drive.

Then-Commissioner Ray Kelly said the cops caught Tang with surveillance videos and license-plate readers.

And Vance determined that Tang wouldn't get away with a ticket. He charged Tang with reckless endangerment and reckless driving. (The cops took his Beemer, too.)

A jury this month duly convicted Tang on both charges — but Afroduck didn't wait around to see it.

He moved to an undisclosed location as deliberations started. Rumor is he's back in his native Canada, avoiding jail time of up to a year and a month.

In real life, Tang was an Upper East Side day trader with a pregnant wife and no criminal record.

But what he did was dangerous. That's why Vance was right to go after him — and why the city's DAs should go after other reckless drivers, too.

Yes, Afroduck drove mostly on highways, where there are no pedestrians. But watch the video: You can see that most drivers are driving conscientiously.

Tang comes up hard on them from the rear, passing close on the right and imperiling people who are obeying the law.

Remember, it's not just pedestrians endangered by reckless drivers: So are good drivers — and passengers.

Because Tang's crime was attention-grabbing, Vance had to prosecute him.

As Jalopnik points out, Afroduck was beating a competitor's 2010 record — and his video became such a sensation that others were bound to try. Tang even encouraged them, telling wannabes to “go ahead.”

Now, they can see that all they'll win is 50 grand in legal fees plus a terrifying prison sentence.

But Tang's crime wasn't so unusual in three key respects.

First, his own excuse. “I was always in control,” he told Jalopnik. “Being a fast driver doesn't mean that you're inherently a bad or reckless driver.”

Wrong. Speed kills — and the graveyards are full of young men (and their victims) who thought they could drive superfast because they're such amazing (and cool) drivers.

Second, Tang's argument that he didn't hurt anyone. Good, but police and prosecutors should be taking bad drivers off the roads before they kill. It's broken-windows policing — take the illegal gun away from the kid before he shoots someone with it.

Third is Tang's thinking that he is above the law, as he demonstrated by fleeing justice. “It was a lost cause, so why bother [to] fight?” he told The New York Times after fleeing.

Lots of speeders think they're above the law. Listen to the whiners who say they can't obey the city's new 25 mph speed limit because other people don't. Few people would accept the excuse of a kid who says he has to carry an illegal gun because his enemies are packing.

Tang's case was easy — he made a movie of the evidence.

But video footage like the kind that let the NYPD nab him is growing easier to get in other cases, too. Hopefully, the city's five DAs will use this success as inspiration to secure convictions when people actually die.

No, Tang's not the criminal of the century. But he should accept the fact that he did put people in danger — and count himself lucky that the price to be paid is only a few months of his life, not the rest of someone else's.

So come back, Afroduck, put this reckless misjudgment (slowly) in the rear-view mirror and get on with the rest of your life.

This piece originally appeared in New York Post

This piece originally appeared in New York Post