Jumping into crashed Toyota

Not such a swift idea if the people in the crashed vehicle are just going to tell on you: Police arrested a 20-year-old woman Sunday for allegedly jumping into a car that collided with a police cruiser and possibly faking an injury…. Powell [Shava Shirlee-Sophia Powell, of Boynton Beach, Fla.] yelled in pain and claimed […]

Not such a swift idea if the people in the crashed vehicle are just going to tell on you:

Police arrested a 20-year-old woman Sunday for allegedly jumping into a car that collided with a police cruiser and possibly faking an injury….

Powell [Shava Shirlee-Sophia Powell, of Boynton Beach, Fla.] yelled in pain and claimed her back was hurt when firefighters and paramedics arrived, the report said. She deflected attention from rescuers trying to treat others injured in the collision, the report said. Powell was taken to Boca Raton Community Hospital where doctors found no evidence of injury. She tried to flee the hospital when she found out police were called in.

Catasha Adams, the driver of [the] Toyota that Powell jumped into, told police Powell wanted to use the accident for a lawsuit against the police department.

(Leon Fooksman, “Police accuse Boynton woman of faking crash injury”, Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, Aug. 20)(via QuizLaw).

4 Comments

  • This is why, here in Chicago, when there’s a bus crash, the driver is instructed to lock the doors of the bus to prevent anyone from jumping so as to claim an injury.

  • I saw a police sting where they staged a fake bus accident and over 12 people “jumped” aboard and claimed damages.

  • How does a person go about the rigorous training necessary to insure the “proper,” instinct-like faking of involvement in a vehicle accident when confronted with what, for the rest of us, is a very distressing incident to witness? Is there some boot camp or something for this?

  • RC,

    It’s a life outlook, a basic, underlying way of seeing the world.

    Most people see a wreck and think,

    “Wow, I’m glad I wasn’t in that.”
    “Oh, I hope everyone is OK.”
    “Looks like they need some help – I’ll call 911/go help.”
    etc.

    People like that view everything through the lens of personal benefit. They see a wreck, and the thoughts they’re likely to have are something like:

    “How annoying.”
    “Stupid people – I hope they die so they won’t be around to get in my way again.”
    “What can I get out of this?”

    Garden variety sociopaths, mostly.

    A few people, failing badly enough in the School of Hard Knocks, make the transition from the first list to the last example on the second list.