MARTINEZ — Prosecutors say he posted point-of-view videos of himself reaching 100-plus miles per hour in hopes of building a following on YouTube.
Instead, 33-year-old Scott Kitfield is getting 60 days in jail and court probation for a year, with a requirement that he allow police to install a tracking device on his car when he gets back on California roadways, authorities said Monday.
Kitfield’s April 3 plea deal closes the latest California case involving alleged crimes-for-views committed by people hoping to cash in on the independent streaming craze. Others include a man who deliberately crashed a small airplane in Santa Barbara and was sentenced last December to six months in federal prison, and a Los Angeles group whose videos tipped off the cops to their illegal street racing.
Kitfield was arrested last July for allegedly driving about 120 mph across the Benicia Bridge, then evading a California Highway Patrol officer who attempted to pull him over. At first, he got away, but then he pulled over in Concord and surrendered to police, authorities said.
When they took him into custody, police realized they already had an active investigation into his videos, thanks to online tipsters who’d watched them on his YouTube channel and reported them to the CHP. The videos were taken down after Kitfield’s arrest, authorities said.
The videos also grabbed the attention of Reddit users, some of whom posted threads complaining about his dangerous driving. In one of them, an anonymous user came to Kitfield’s defense and several others accused that person of actually being Kitfield, but it was never confirmed.
Kitfield, a Concord resident, was charged last year with one felony and 14 misdemeanors. On April 3, he pleaded guilty to four counts, including excessive speeding, fleeing police, driving without a valid license and reckless driving.
In addition to jail time, probation and monitoring by police, the plea deal required Kitfield to sign an important waiver that could come back to haunt him if he ever crashes his vehicle — an acknowledgment that he could be charged with murder in the event that his reckless driving kills a person sometime in the future.
Contra Costa District Attorney Diana Becton, whose office sought the waiver, said in a written statement Kitfield was “gambling with human lives.”
“We are grateful to the CHP for their work in holding the defendant accountable and their enforcement efforts that help to protect everyone on the road,” Becton said.
Source: www.mercurynews.com