Blues Brothers-Like Bridge Jump Starts Bike Week In Daytona Beach

DAYTONA BEACH, FL — Movie fans may have thought of Jake and Elwood Blues in the 1980 classic "The Blues Brothers" after seeing video of a dangerous real-life stunt shared by a police chief in Florida over the weekend.

A motorcyclist was shown jumping the Main Street drawbridge as it rose over the Halifax River in a surveillance video shared on Twitter by Daytona Beach Police Chief Jakari Young. The stunt came on the first day of "Bike Week," an annual celebration that normally brings about a half-million motorcycle enthusiasts from across the country to Central Florida.

The event is on, with some coronavirus-related restrictions, from March 5 to March 14 in Daytona Beach. The city made a bargain with its bars — 60 percent capacity indoors in return for the permits necessary for temporary outdoor sales and entertainment, according to an Associated Press report.

Young tweeted the bridge stunt as the start of Bike Week "shenanigans." Thousands of people have been spotted in the Daytona Beach area, and few of them are wearing masks, the AP reported.

"Folks, please be safe and be smarter than this guy," Young tweeted.

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The motorcyclist's jump came just as the bridge was beginning to lift, and didn't get as much air as the fictional one made famous in "The Blues Brothers" movie.

This is the Main Street draw bridge. The Bike Week “shenanigans” have officially commenced! Folks, please be safe and be smarter than this guy! pic.twitter.com/KGBuPDQfw9
— Chief Jakari Young (@ChiefJakari) March 5, 2021