Vernon Motorcycle Biz Owner Charged After Racing Stunt: Report

VERNON, CT — The owner of the New Engand Motorcycle Museum in Vernon is accused of requesting a "speed box" for West Main Street to deter fast drivers and then using the device as a backdrop for a promotional drag racing video, a police report indicates. He was subsequently charged with several traffic violations, a report shows.

A speed box is an electronic device fastened to a utility pole that records the speed of apporoaching vehicles. Museum owner Ken Kaplan, who also restores and sells bikes out of the old mill complex on West Main, had requested it prior to the Sept. 2 incident police said.

At 1:30 p.m. on Aug. 29, after the device had been put in place, a Vernon officer was sitting in a dirt lot on West Main Street observing traffic when he saw Kaplan ride a motorcycle down the business driveway with escorts holding both a video camera and flags, according to a report.

One of the men approached the officer and said they were about to shoot a video and wanted the police car in the backdrop, according to a report. The report indicates the officer refused and the man tauntingly repeated the request by saying he'd, "clear it with the chief first." The officer again refused, according to a report.

He said the video would be shot without the cop car and the officer said any traffic violations would be subject to enforcement, according to a report. The the man then said, according to a report,that the group was promoting a "reality TV show" designed to "put Rockville in a good light" and then told the officer that the message would be, "the cops are lazy, but drug dealers and prostitutes would not be tolerated."

Records show Vernon police have made several drug-related arrests over the past several months in that area of town.

The officer returned to work on Sept. 5 and was informed that Kaplan had posted a video three days earlier showing him drag racing on a "Harey Davidson Sportster." The bike had no turn signals, no brake light, and no registration, according to a report.

The report indicates he made at least five high-speed passes on West Main Street using the speed box as a back drop. Video of the incident reviewed after a Freedom of Information request supposrts that contention.

Downloaded information shows three passes at 74 mph, 70 mph and 69 mph, according to a report.

The video has since been removed from public domains.

Kaplan told police the video had been altered to show he was going faster that he actually was, according to a report. He then apologized, according to a report.

Kaplan is due in court on Sept. 27 to face charges that include failure to display a resistration plate, failure to drive right, stopping without signaling, unsafe movement from a stopped position and failure to obey a traffic congtrol sign, according to a report.