We’ve all had moments where we thought, “I bet it would be cool to drive there,” but then never actually did it. Well, one guy in Washington, D.C. let those intrusive thoughts win, and it was all caught on camera. Around 8:30 p.m. on June 21, the driver of a Jeep Patriot decided to take the scenic route through the National Mall in D.C. while it was full of folks who were enjoying the warm summer evening.
Luckily no one was hurt, according to NBC 4 Washington, but it was still an intense and dangerous scene. Video shared with the outlet shows the car driving close to pedestrians several times as they do their best to get out of the way of the car. The Patriot can be seen driving in circles around the mall as officers on motorcycles try to corral it to limited success. After a while of GTA-style antics, the driver left the mall and pulled back onto the street.
Eventually, police were able to catch up to the driver and arrest him, NBC reports. There’s no word yet on what charges he’ll be facing, but if I had to guess, they’re going to be pretty severe. He’s expected in court sometime on June 23.
What eyewitnesses saw
Fox 5 DC spoke with people who were on the Mall at the time of the incident. Ferdous Al-Faruque, who recorded the video of the incident, told the outlet that he first thought it was “an undercover cop or an unmarked vehicle.” It didn’t really capture his attention until it pulled onto the grass, paused there and then “started going right into the mall.”
Here’s what else Al-Faruque told Fox 5 he saw:
“There was a lot of people. And I think you can get in the video there were people on the grass. Just enjoying themselves, having a picnic, this is why I love DC is that it’s the kind of place you can go out and hang with people out in the open like that. There’s open spaces. And unfortunately, this guy decided he was going to drive in the space and put people’s lives in danger,” Al-Faruque continued.
Somehow, no one was injured in this whole situation, which is a minor miracle in itself. Still, let this be a lesson to you all: just because driving where you’re not supposed to be seems like a good idea, it really isn’t.
