Distracted Baltimore Driver Pokemon Go-ing to Court After Cop Car Crash

Steph Willems
by Steph Willems

If you’re anything like the writers at TTAC, Pokémon Go is a strange and scary thing, like what those teenagers might be doing over there.

We’ve avoided writing about the misadventures associated with the nerdy phone app — grown men falling off cliffs, kids finding corpses, awkward romantic escapades — but a moron in Baltimore tipped our hand.

Two nights ago, a Baltimore police officer’s body camera captured a Toyota RAV4 colliding with his parked cruiser. The young male driver, who clearly couldn’t figure out how to cover his ass, immediately admits to playing Pokémon Go behind the wheel.

“That’s what I get for playing this dumb-ass game,” says Tank Top, phone in hand.

Besides being a good lesson on how to stay safe behind the wheel, the Baltimore video shows players how they too can capture the rare Dodgy Chargeron Pokémon.

is not all fun and games. Here is a video of a distracted driver who struck one of our cars. pic.twitter.com/kOTfbTcILo

— Baltimore Police (@BaltimorePolice) July 19, 2016

Steph Willems
Steph Willems

More by Steph Willems

Comments
Join the conversation
10 of 51 comments
  • 3XC 3XC on Jul 20, 2016

    I don't quite understand the "get off my lawn" old man hate for this game. If it gets a generation of couch potatoes out of the house and they get a little exercise, I'm all for it. Yes, there have been stupid users like the kid in this article, but considering how many tens of millions of downloads it has and how frequently its used, it really isn't causing problems on any appreciable scale. Calories burned in total since it was released is probably approaching a billion. I would say its a net positive. And its free. Kids love it.

    • See 1 previous
    • Ryoku75 Ryoku75 on Jul 20, 2016

      I've yet to see this "hate" for the game, more so people simply disapproving of careless behavior.

  • PentastarPride PentastarPride on Jul 20, 2016

    I knew I couldn't count on my fellow citizens for knowing right from wrong and for using what little of a brain they may have left. It is hard to believe that adults are playing this (and taking it seriously!) and not for something to pass the time for a few minutes. And to think it is for something so frivolous...is there really nothing better to do out there? I was in Costco a few days ago and a couple that were close to my age (mid-20s, early-30s) were completely oblivious to their suroundings. Their heads were planted into their phone playing this dumb game. Neither of them seemed to be shopping and they didn't have a pushcart or anything. I kind of wondered if they were even members at all and just paid for a day pass just to take up space, wandering around for these silly little digital characters. To make matters worse, this was all during peak shopping hours. Everyone that had some semblance of sanity gave them well-deserved dirty looks; it didn't phase these people at all because they didn't care to notice. Now I'll have to worry about these kinds of mindless individuals whenever I am driving somewhere. Bumping into these zombies in a grocery store is the least of my worries. I have a feeling that this is only going to get worse.

  • TMA1 TMA1 on Jul 20, 2016

    He probably ran into a Jigglypuff, and fell asleep behind the wheel.

    • Paragon Paragon on Jul 20, 2016

      Tell me more about Jigglypuff! Just so I can better understand, you know.

  • Shaker Shaker on Jul 21, 2016

    Seems to be a litmus test for the futility of modern life - we've replaced daily drudgery with collective eons of human time, to be exploited by just the right distraction. I guess for me, it was PC games a few years back, now Netflix binges on Hangover Saturday. So, let the "kids" have their version, right? Well, exercise is one thing, but wandering across our world unawares will only lead to pain of some sort, though society will decide (day by day) whether the body count is acceptable.

    • JimC2 JimC2 on Jul 21, 2016

      Not sure it's any better or worse than some time tested pastimes playing like cards while getting drunk (or getting drunk while playing cards...).

Next