Suk Min Choi faces federal charges related to the video, “Destroying a Lamborghini With Fireworks.” (Screenshots from the video)
A California YouTuber faces federal charges for his incendiary social media stunt — a fictionalized video game scene of female officers shooting mortar-style fireworks from an “attack helicopter” above a speeding Lamborghini that’s trying to outrun it below on a picturesque dry lake bed at sundown.
Suk Min Choi, 24, aka “Alex Choi,” was charged with one count of causing the placement of explosive or incendiary device on an aircraft for his 11-minute video, “Destroying a Lamborghini With Fireworks,” according to the complaint filed on Tuesday.
When Choi allegedly made the video in June 2023, he had no permit to shoot it using fireworks on a helicopter and had purchased the fireworks in Nevada because they were illegal in California, authorities said in a news release. He also had no proof of insurance and no pyrotechnician or fire crews on site for the use of fireworks, court documents allege. Fireworks are banned without a permit on the federal land where it was shot. If convicted, he could face up to 10 years in federal prison, officials said.
The video was initially posted to his YouTube channel, which has nearly 1 million followers, and later removed from his social media sites but found elsewhere.
The video, “Destroying a Lamborghini With Fireworks,” was shot on the El Mirage Dry Lake Bed in San Bernardino, about 85 miles northeast of Los Angeles. The slick video features two female “officers” aboard a helicopter shooting fireworks from cannons onto a speeding Lamborghini, seen from various angles. There’s also a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the video.
Court documents say Choi mentions working with a camera company to shoot the “craziest Fourth of July video involving cars and fireworks” and calls them “crazy stupid ideas.” In the clip, when talking about the effects, someone can be heard saying, “It’s so f—— loud; it’s so loud; it’s actually terrifying.”
At one point, Choi asks, “How many people have holes in their shirts?” according to court documents.
“I got shot twice,” someone responds. “bro, I got double tapped.”
At another point, Choi boasts that he “sprayed everyone.”
The Federal Aviation Administration revoked the helicopter pilot’s license due to the helicopter being operated less than 500 feet from people and a moving car on the ground, creating a hazard and operating the helicopter in a manner that was “careless or reckless.”
Initially, the helicopter pilot denied knowing about the video, saying, “it was probably done in Mexico.” In a follow-up phone call with FAA inspectors, the pilot said he did not want Choi to know he was talking to the FAA and that “Choi was doing unsafe activities involving cars and aircraft,” court documents said.
Officials with the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management, which owns that section of land, took photos of the tire marks still etched in circles in the earth weeks later, court documents said.
An attorney for Choi was not listed in the court docket at the time of publication. At Choi’s initial appearance on Thursday, he was ordered released on $50,000 bond. His arraignment was set for July 2.
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