A helicopter flying over what looks like arid land hovers near a blue Lamborghini, as the luxury sports car speeds in what could pass for a spectacular chase scene in an action film.
The vehicle performs doughnuts on the sand and kicks up dirt into a cloudy trail, swerving to escape the beams of fire coming in its direction. Two women aboard the chopper vigorously blast fireworks at the car, lighting up the sky as sparks fly.
The man who directed the YouTube video, Suk Min Choi, 24, who is also known as Alex Choi of Studio City, Calif., was arrested on Wednesday for recording the stunt, which involved flying near the ground without filming permits. The video was made last year in San Bernardino County, Calif., the U.S. attorney’s office for the Central District of California said in a statement on Thursday.
Mr. Choi was charged with one count of causing the placement of an explosive or incendiary device on an aircraft, federal prosecutors said.
A lawyer for Mr. Choi did not immediately respond to an inquiry about the charge on Friday. Mr. Choi also did not respond to a request for comment on his Instagram account.
Mr. Choi has about 924,000 followers on YouTube and 1.2 million followers on an Instagram account that features various luxury sports cars. On July 4, 2023, he posted the video, just over 10 minutes long, titled “Destroying a Lamborghini With Fireworks” to his YouTube channel, according to an affidavit filed with the criminal complaint.
The clip is no longer featured on Mr. Choi’s social media pages.
Investigators believe that the video was shot on El Mirage Dry Lake, a recreation area on federal land in San Bernardino County.
“After shooting what appears to be a live-action version of a fictionalized video game scene, the video transitions to a behind-the-scenes look at how Choi shot the first third of the video,” the U.S. attorney’s office said.
During that portion of the video, prosecutors said that Mr. Choi had allegedly made various references to himself coordinating the shoot.
A clip of the video, which was linked from a report about the charges on the website Court Watch, showed the women shooting the Lamborghini as the chorus of Miley Cyrus’s song “Party in the U.S.A.” was blasting in the background.
Mr. Choi also thanked a camera company in the recording for “being a part of my crazy stupid ideas,” according to prosecutors.
During the video, Mr. Choi appeared to decide to stop shooting the action scenes when he ran out of the flashy explosives. Someone asked if he would film again and he responded, “No, that’s it. We’re out of fireworks, right?” according to the U.S. attorney’s office.
In other parts of the video, Mr. Choi is seen next to the helicopter, holding what appeared to be a firework, according to the affidavit.
The authorities said that they believed Mr. Choi filmed the video sometime in June 2023 and that he did not have a permit for the shoot using fireworks on a helicopter.
Prosecutors said he purchased the fireworks in the neighboring state of Nevada because they were illegal in California. No one else has been charged or arrested in connection to the video, according to a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office who said that the investigation was ongoing.
Mr. Choi made his initial appearance on Thursday in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. He was released on a $50,000 bond, the spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office said. Mr. Choi’s arraignment was scheduled for July 2. If convicted, he faces a minimum of probation and up to 10 years in federal prison.