Arthur Bates Jr was caught faking an accident on camera.
Police arrested a man in the southeastern US state of Louisiana after he falsified a police report that a Tesla car hit him in a parking lot. Without knowing that all Tesla vehicles record their camera footage, the man said a Tesla “backed into him”, causing him to fall on the pavement. The 47-year-old man, identified by the local police as Arthur Bates Jr, also claimed that the vehicle driver fled the scene after the incident. A video shared by the police department showed how the man staged the whole episode on September 3.
The clip has no sound. It showed Mr Bates suddenly falling behind the vehicle and dramatising the “accident”. He tried to seek the attention of passers by and remained on the pavement for some time, then turning to his side and dialling his mobile phone, possibly informing the authorities. The vehicle then moves away from him and goes on its way. The Tesla driver appeared to come to him and checked on him before leaving.
Mr Bates had complained of back, leg and neck injuries, following which an ambulance and fire truck had to be dispatched to the location. When police officers found the Tesla, the driver told them Mr Bates intentionally jumped behind his vehicle and staged the accident. “Unbeknownst to Mr Bates, Tesla's record all the footage of their cameras. When Slidell Police officers reviewed the Tesla's video footage, it became apparent that Bates was lying and staged the entire event,” the police said in the post.
The video has garnered more than 2 lakh views and received over 6,000 comments, some referring to people trying to make money by falsifying accidents.
“I've heard this is becoming a popular “sport”, especially in the Walmart parking lot in Natchez,” wrote a user.
Appreciating the technology, another said, “This happens way more than people think. Cameras do help sometimes, after all.”
This person said that he is “still amazed” that people don't know about Tesla's cameras despite all the videos doing the rounds on the Internet.
“He picked the wrong car,” read one of the comments.
Another person wrote, “I love how the driver pushes the man's foot off his car and is like, “man get your foot off my car”,”
Mr Bates later admitted to falsifying the police report and was arrested.
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