By: David Matthews
Stark raving mad
A wildlife documentary producer was caught on video in a feral fit of road rage over an accident that he wasn’t even involved in.
The incident began as Mom Louise, Dad Simon, their 11-year-old son and Grandma Victoria were driving home from a classic car show on a Saturday morning in July.
Along the way, the family got in a minor accident with another car, and Louise got out to amicably exchange information.
That’s when former BBC producer Fergus Beeley pulled up behind them, hopped out of his car and immediately flew into a frenzy over the family’s “dangerous driving.”
Victoria began filming as Beeley opened the passenger door of the family’s car and began calling them all “wankers” and grandma “an old slut.”
After Simon got out of the car, Beeley forced him up against the vehicle and, demonstrating a unique interpretation of civil law, screamed, “You’re under citizen’s arrest! Put your hands on the car and get ready to die!”
Beeley then declared that he also was placing each of the other family members under arrest, including the petrified 11-year-old in the back seat.
A passerby tried to intervene, asking Beeley why he was getting involved, to which Beeley stated that he was “trying to stop a death on the motorway” and that the family was “not fit to drive.”
Beeley’s misunderstanding of a citizen’s arrest continued as he replied to Louise’s indignation over his death threats by yelling, “I do want you dead! In fact, I want you dead right now!”
The four-minute viral video ends before the altercation was broken up by police, who ultimately decided that no arrests were warranted.
Ironically, Beeley is scheduled to host a lecture on relaxation at the Royal Geographical Society later this month titled “Mindfulness in Nature.”
Wet and wild
Asheville, N.C., police officers weren’t sure what to expect when they responded to a noise complaint over the Fourth of July weekend.
What they discovered was a neighborhood block party where kids were having fun on a massive slip ’n slide built specially for the occasion.
The officers immediately yelled at the residents, “You’re under arrest! Put your water toys on the ground and get ready to die!”
Wait, that’s not what happened.
When these real officers of the law saw that the kids were just having some safe summer fun and not blocking traffic or endangering anyone, they decided to join in!
The now viral videos from the event show Officer Carrie Lee taking the plunge down the slip ‘n slide first, wrapped in a trash bag to preserve her uniform and equipment.
The other officer, Joe Jones, thought he was off the hook because he was too tall to fit in a trash bag, but then one of the kids got a large raft.
Jones was game and impressed the kids by becoming the only person over the entire weekend to ride from one end of the giant slide to the other on a single turn.
Before leaving, the officers posed for pictures and thanked the residents for a fun time, and for their wet butts.
Minor misspelling
A sign posted this summer along I-29 in Kansas City got a lot of attention on social media due to a minor misspelling.
The exit sign directed drivers to “NW 64ht St,” and motorists had fun posting photos of the error with snarky comments on Facebook.
The Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) noticed, and responded with a photo of a street sign reading “Everybody calm down” along with this sassy caption:
“For those of you who pointed out the misspelled highway sign on I-29, we are aware. It will be corrected soon. We hope you’re paying this much attention to the signs that say SLOW DOWN, ROAD CREWS AHEAD, and REDUCE YOUR SPEED. Thanks.”
MoDOT followed up the next day with a photo of the now corrected sign captioned, “Ah, everyone can rest easy now. The sign on I-29 has been fixed. Thanks for all your support and funny posts! Be safe.”
A DOT with a sense of humor that fixes its mistakes quickly? For that, Kansas City drivers should say, “Htank you!”
About The Author: Matthews has been chronicling the unexpectedly humorous side of transportation news since 2000. The stories are all true.