Tempe Police Deploy Grappler to End 142-MPH Corvette Rampage

Tempe police released intense body cam footage showing the moment officers finally reeled in a Corvette driver who tore through city streets at a jaw-dropping 142 mph. It happened September 9: a white C8 Corvette screaming across the Mill Avenue Bridge, its exhaust echoing over Tempe Town Lake like it was qualifying at Daytona.

The driver — identified as Mazen Alassmari — wasn’t just speeding. He was allegedly filming his own stunt while residents jammed 911 with complaints about the engine ripping through downtown. Not exactly subtle.

Night one, motorcycle officers tried to pull him over. He had other plans — blew the signals, ran multiple red lights, and vanished into the dark. Textbook reckless.

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Round two came the next evening. Same car. Same theatrics. Different ending.

This time patrol units were ready with a grappler — a device mounted to the front of a cruiser that fires a tether around a fleeing car’s rear wheel. Once it grabs, it drags the suspect down to a controlled stop instead of a violent one.

It worked exactly as designed. The Corvette was reeled in clean, the driver cuffed without a wreck, and the mid-engine speed machine towed off to impound.

Police later shared the footage to show how grappler tech can shut down a high-speed chase without the carnage spike strips or PIT maneuvers can bring.

Call it a blunt reminder that city streets aren’t racetracks. Treat a packed downtown like a personal track day and things go sideways fast. This time, the tech stepped in before anyone innocent paid for it.

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Shawn Henry

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Shawn Henry has spent years writing about cars, and it shows—not in a resume kind of way, but in how he talks about them. He's the type who'll notice the weird trim option nobody remembers and actually know why it mattered. At Backfire News, he covers pretty much the whole spectrum: off-road trucks and trail builds, performance cars, racing, and the collector market. He's comfortable getting into the technical weeds, but he never forgets that most people read about cars because cars are fun, not because they want a spec sheet. His beat runs from classic and collector vehicles to overlanding culture, modified performance builds, new automotive tech, and the industry news that actually affects what ends up in your driveway. Mostly, though, Shawn thinks the best car stories are about people—the builds they pour money into, the road trips, the communities that form around a shared obsession. That's the stuff he likes writing about, and it's what you'll find in his work here.

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