warning, if you see a ‘child’ sitting in the road while driving, keep your doors locked- See Why
Nowadays, criminals will use the dirtiest tricks in the game in order to manipulate and scare victims. A 33-year old woman from Beaufort, North Carolina, spotted a child sitting in the middle of the road at around 1:30 am. It was completely dark and she didn’t realize at first that it wasn’t a child at all, but rather a clothed dummy. She was on her way home from work when the incident occurred.
The woman stopped immediately and tried to take a closer look at what she thought was a little child, but luckily she decided to stay in her car. When she stopped, the woman saw two men coming closer to her vehicle. The two men, who were wearing completely dark hoodies, then attempted to get into the car by repeatedly pulling the door handles.
The driver knew that the “child” in the middle of the road was just a distraction.
She needed to get away as fast as possible.
After the woman got to a safe distance, she immediately notified the authorities. Carteret County deputies then were able to find the clothed dummy on the street, but there was no sign of the perpetrators. The perpetrators used a fake plastic head and children’s clothing to make it resemble a small child. Major Jason A. Wank said that in situations like these, driving away is the “absolutely the right thing to do.”
The Sheriff’s Office then warned drivers in the area to always keep their doors locked while driving.
If this woman had stepped out of her car to check the fake person sitting in the middle of the road, she could’ve easily been the victim of a well-planned carjacking.
Luckily, the deputies were able to find the people responsible for the dummy child trap. Thanks to a couple of tips, they quickly learned that three children orchestrated the whole thing. They were just 10, 14 and 17 years old, and explained to the police that all of it was just a mean prank.
WNCT reports that the three juveniles had hoped that someone would run over the dummy with their car, thinking that they actually hit a real person. In short, they wanted people to “freak out” over the whole thing, although it is unsure why two of the three then proceeded to harass the woman by trying to enter her car.
It’s unknown if charges against the three have been filed. Nonetheless, it’s an important lesson for drivers as this could easily have turned into a carjacking. Stay safe, always lock your doors and stay in your car if you see people coming approaching your vehicle.
