Southwest
Wild video shows speedboat crash after flying through air at popular Arizona lake
Two speedboat racers are lucky to be alive after a terrifying crash at Lake Havasu in Arizona on Saturday in which their vessel went flipping and flying through the air before slamming back onto the surface of the water.
The frightening scene was captured on video as the speedboat was attempting to break a 206-mph speed record on the lake. It happened during an event called Desert Storm Shugrue’s Shootout.
In the video, the white 10,000-horsepower boat was seen cruising at a high speed on the lake’s surface while being followed by a helicopter with a camera attached to the bottom.
The vessel appeared to be skipping like a stone when the front of it tilted just enough for the wind to pick it up, causing the boat to backflip completely.
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A speedboat crashed after going airborne at Lake Havasu in Arizona, as the operator made a record-breaking attempt at 200 mph. (Credit: Speedboat Magazine)
But the wild ride did not end there. In fact, the boat remained in the air and turned nearly 360 degrees horizontally before the front corner caught the water as it began to flip vertically once more.
Spectators could be heard on the original video swearing in disbelief at what they had just seen.
FOX 10 in Phoenix reported that both racers on board, who are with Freedom One Racing and go by the aliases John Wayne and Clint Eastwood to hide their identities, walked away from the crash.
The station spoke with Ray Lee of Speedboat Magazine, who said the racing team was hoping to make history over the weekend.
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A speedboat crashed after going airborne at Lake Havasu in Arizona, as the operator made a record-breaking attempt at 200 mph. (Credit: Speedboat Magazine)
“It’s a 388 skater and it’s estimated at about 10,000 horsepower,” Lee said. “So, they came to Lake Havasu earlier in the week intending to break the record here for the Desert Storm shootout. That was their first pass of the day and when they went over, the radar picked them up at 200.1 mph.”
Fellow racers told the station that the men on board owe their lives to those who built the boat.
“The last thing you ever want to see is a crash and especially something as horrendous as that,” shootout competitor Jeff Clark said, explaining that going as fast as the men were going can take away a driver’s ability to react. “At that speed, it doesn’t take much, you know, those tunnel holes are built to pack air, so the boat rides on top of the water. You know it’s like on a rail and if you pack up too much and that nose gets too high it’ll just – at that speed – take you airborne.”
He added that his heart dropped when he saw Eastwood and Wayne’s boat go airborne.
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The boat flipped multiple times while airborne. (Credit: Speedboat Magazine)
“It’s never something you want to look at when you’re out having fun as a driver, for sure,” Clark said.
Both Lee and Clark said windy conditions may have been a factor in the crash but also may have helped the two men onboard.
Lee told the station that when the boat cut the wind, it caused the vessel to remain airborne longer than if there had not been any substantial wind.
“You hold your breath, and you hold it until you see both racers emerge from the cockpit,” he said. “For the most part, uninjured.”
Since 1963, there have been 11 fatal racing crashes on Lake Havasu, Motorsport Memorial reported, with the deadliest occurring in 2018 when three people died when a boat named “Lickety Split” crashed.
Clark credited safety improvements for keeping the racers inside the vessel safe.
“Those guys are alive for one reason and one reason only: That boat was built not to come apart,” he said. “So, when they were sitting in that cockpit and when you look at pictures of the boats, it’s totally destroyed but the cockpit is in perfect condition. I tip my hat to Skater and the crew that built that boat because it saved that guy’s life, it saved both of their lives, there’s no doubt about it.”
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A man armed with a knife was shot by L.A. police officers responding to an assault with a deadly weapon call overnight, authorities said.
According to the Los Angeles Police Department, officers with the Hollenbeck Division responded to an apartment complex in the 3000 block of Glenn Avenue in Boyle Heights at 1:45 a.m. Saturday after callers reported a male suspect was armed with a knife and had just assaulted someone in the complex.
Arriving officers found the suspect in front of the residence, but he did not comply with officers’ commands to drop the weapon. He then advanced toward the officers and an officer-involved shooting occurred, LAPD confirmed.
“The suspect was struck by gunfire and remained non-compliant,” the LAPD Public Information Officer said on X early Saturday morning. “Officers deployed a 40mm foam round and ultimately took the suspect into custody.”
Video obtained by KTLA shows the man being loaded into an ambulance and taken to a hospital; officials said he was transported in stable condition, adding that his knife was recovered at the scene and booked as evidence.
No officers or community members were injured during the incident. The man’s name was not released.
Dangerous rip currents and high surf are forecast for Los Angeles County beaches, including the Malibu Coast this weekend.
The National Weather Service has issued a hazardous beach statement, warning of the potentially deadly beach conditions. The dangerous conditions are forecast to last from Saturday evening to Monday morning.
“There is an increased risk of ocean drowning,” the NWS forecast reads. “Rip currents can pull swimmers and surfers out to sea. Waves can wash people off beaches and rocks, and capsize small boats nearshore.”
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A guide to surviving rip currents from the National Weather Service (NWS)
Minor Beach erosion and coastal flooding is possible through the weekend. The flooding is most likely to occur during evening high tides from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m.
Beachgoers are advised to stay out of the water and remain near lifeguard towers. Jetties and tidepools are also especially dangerous during the weekend forecast.
“Rock jetties can be deadly in such conditions, stay off the rocks,” the NWS forecast reads.
Similar hazardous beach conditions are also in the forecast for Santa Barbara County. A high surf advisory is also in effect for Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties this weekend, where 10 to 15-foot waves will be possible.
If you live or want to live in Los Angeles, the city controller has released a new dashboard highlighting some of the city’s most notorious problem rental properties, a tool designed to help renters avoid future headaches.
“This project comes at a time when tenants are reporting harassment and illegal evictions violating the City’s Rent Stabilization Ordinance, Just Cause for Eviction Ordinance and Tenant Anti‑Harassment Ordinance, but very few of the complaints end up leading to strong enforcement or real accountability,” L.A. City Controller Kenneth Mejia said in a media release Thursday.
The new Top 100 Problem Rental Properties dashboard includes a searchable database of all residential addresses with reported housing violation cases within the city of Los Angeles, a ranked list of the 100 addresses with the most violations and an interactive map.
“There has never before been an uncomplicated way for anyone to look up years’ worth of violations by address,” Mejia said in the release.
Data for the dashboard was compiled from multiple sources, including the Los Angeles Housing Department, Los Angeles City Planning and the L.A. County Assessor’s Office, according to the controller’s office.
The release also identified the top three addresses with the highest number of reported housing violations:
1. 636 1/2 North Hill Place, Chinatown
192 housing violation cases
2. 11700 West Wilshire Boulevard, Sawtelle
166 housing violation cases
3. 6650 West Forest Lawn Drive, Hollywood Hills
113 housing violation cases
“Our new dashboard is an easy‑to‑understand public tool that we hope will help renters and organizers document patterns of harm, as well as put pressure on both landlords and the City to act,” Mejia said. “Everyone deserves safe, stable and dignified housing.”
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