"I can do more from Canada than at Rikers," Adam Tang told me over the phone minutes ago, the first official admission from Afroduck that he flew the coop and escaped to Canada while facing charges of reckless driving. He also claims he was tipped off that the jury was rigged against him.
Yesterday, a jury found Afroduck guilty of reckless driving and reckless endangerment in the 2nd degree, all for driving around Manhattan faster than anyone else before. He covered just over 24 miles in just over 24 minutes, posted a video of himself doing it, and incurred the wrath of two city administrations. There was a manhunt, a throw-the-book-at-him trial, and now Afroduck claims they're going after his wife.
Afroduck fled the country after his last appearance in court, on Monday. He told me that he received a Skype call later in the day from someone claiming to be a friend of a juror. This Skype caller said that the jury was going to make a "political example" out of him.
One juror did admit to make an example out of Tang, as stated in the New York Time's report on the guilty verdict.
A second juror, Damascus Sookbirsingh, 61, said he at first was inclined to acquit Mr. Tang, because he had stopped at traffic lights and seemed to be an adept driver. But Mr. Sookbirsingh said other jurors persuaded him that Mr. Tang had taken unacceptable risks and that a message needed to be sent. "This is basically to set an example," he said.
"What kind of legal system is that?" Tang asked me.
Afroduck fled to Canada thereafter, leaving his pregnant wife behind.
The judge in his case put out a bench warrant for him and he has 30 days before he's charged with bail-jumping. That would mean two years in jail, not one.
"If you're going to get wet, you might as well go swimming, right?" he asked, rhetorically.
Afroduck claims the police went after his wife while he was in Canada, trying to get her for aiding and abetting.
"They want my pregnant wife to serve," Afroduck fumed. "That's too far."
"I can't even call my wife because my phone is tapped," Afroduck continued.
Adam Tang encouraged the NYPD to get him across the border. "They can come to Canada," he stated. "They can play with Ottawa. They can play with the Canadian system. Then we'll see what a real legal system is like."
Afroduck said he will be taking interviews with all the major networks tonight, openly admitting he's in Canada.
"They knew," Afroduck described the border guard. He says they asked him if he'd had any speeding tickets lately, approved his crossing, then let him by with, "good luck Afroduck."
Verifying any of these claims is difficult, but by his own admission Tang is a man on the run, angry but somehow increasingly more confident the worse off his situation gets.
Photo Credit: AP