How to Not Become a State Trooper

If you want to become a State Trooper, it probably is not in your best interests to speed down the interstate until after you get the badge. Then it is no problem!

FHP Applicant Clocked At 140 MPH, Troopers Say

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — An applicant set to take an exam to join the Florida Highway Patrol was arrested Monday, accused of leading troopers on a racing-speed motorcycle chase in rush-hour traffic.

“We told him, don’t bother showing up,” FHP spokesman Lt. Julio Pajon said of David Carpenter, 24. “Getting arrested is an automatic disqualifier.”

Carpenter was to take his physical for the patrol next week, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported.

For weeks, troopers and local police have spotted the same biker, cutting through traffic at speeds of up to 140 mph. He managed to flee at least twice and almost caused wrecks involving troopers, Pajon said.

Monday morning, troopers were waiting for him, using an airplane and stationed strategically along the highway. Soon enough, Carpenter was leading a chase, at one point heading south in the northbound lanes and later smashed the cycle’s front rim by hurling over a curb to avoid a tollbooth, police reports said.

Carpenter outran troopers in cars, but the airplane shadowed him to his apartment in south Miami-Dade County. When troopers arrived moments later, they saw Carpenter outside, pretending to wash his car.

The cycle was not in sight and Carpenter denied being the cyclist, Pajon said, but it appears his pooch gave him up.

The dog came up to a window, moved a vertical blind and barked at the troopers outside, a report said. A trooper looked inside and saw the motorcycle. Also inside: Carpenter’s application for the FHP.