How obsessive compulsive has the mobile reality game Pokemon Go become?
One answer involves the extreme good fortune of a young man in Maryland. While playing the game on his smartphone while driving, the man crashed his vehicle into a parked police car.
The driver’s sport utility and the police officer’s car suffered extensive damage, but the driver of the car emerged without injuries.
According to a report on CBS San Francisco, A Baltimore Police Department officer was talking to two colleagues next to his parked patrol car following a service call around 3:30 a.m. on July 19.
The driver of the SUV suddenly slammed into the officer’s car, with the crash filmed by the officer’s body worn camera. The video was posted on the police department’s Twitter page.
Shortly after the crash, the SUV driver stopped. He walked out of his vehicle with a phone in his hand and talked to the officer. Investigators said he admitted playing Pokemon Go.
“That’s what I get for playing this dumb a–game,” the driver is heard saying in the video.
“This could have easily ended in a tragedy,” Baltimore Police spokesperson T.J. Smith said in a news conference. “It’s not a game when you’re behind the wheel of a 2,000 pound vehicle.”
At least one other crash took place involving a Pokemon Go player. Last week, a driver near Syracuse, New York reportedly crashed his car and struck a tree. The driver suffered minor injuries.
Transportation agencies across the nation, including Caltrans, have repeatedly issued warnings since the game was released earlier this month, urging them to not play the augmented reality game while driving.
Pokémon Go was developed by San Francisco-based Niantic.
Article Last Updated: July 20, 2016.
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