Incident with MRAP leaves blemish on final day of SPAWAR production

NORTH CHARLESTON, SC - Today marked the end of production for the  Charleston Naval Space and Warfare Center (SPAWAR) produced military vehicles and while the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles are protected from improvised explosive devices, they are still prone to stupid drivers.

It is a scene that all who travel Virginia Ave. are familiar with. MRAPs being transported back and forth in convoys in route to the shipping terminal aboard the Naval Weapons Station.

North Charleston police officer Sergeant Chuck Daniels was driving towards Montague Avenue this afternoon when he noticed a lone MRAP rolling down Virginia Ave. at a slow rate of speed.

"I know that they can fly down the road upwards of a blazing fast 35 miles per hour," Daniels said. "So when this MRAP was going three miles per hour during rush hour I knew something was wrong."

Upon further investigation Daniels saw what he described as a man "ghost riding" the MRAP along the busy road.

Ghost riding is the act of walking and dancing beside your vehicle while it is in motion at an idle speed with no driver, according to Wikipedia.

"I was perplexed because his dance moves were amazing so I didn't want to stop him, but an unmanned vehicle of that size could do some serious damage if it were to crash into anything or anyone," Daniels said. Daniels turned on his blue lights and approached the vehicle from behind causing the ghost rider to reenter and bring the MRAP to a halt.

The driver/ghost rider was 32 year old Shaun Tee, a government contractor from Summerville. Tee explained that he was excited with the completion of the production and ghost riding was his way of celebrating.

"I have been busting my hump for six days a week for three years so I deserved to ghost ride this big old whip," Tee explained.

Daniels arrested Tee and charged him with reckless ghost riding of a vehicle larger than two tons. The MRAP was loaded up on a tractor-trailer and towed the 60 feet back to the production bay.