Fake Child Kidnapping Sparks Outrage

[Softail]

Fake Child Kidnapping Sparks Outrage

On a seemingly ordinary Saturday afternoon at the park in Sequim, Wash., two masked men grabbed a 4-year-old boy sitting on a park bench near his mother. The men proceeded to put the child in a van and drive off.

Parents reacted frantically, some running after the car attempting to get a license plate number, others called 911.

Their panic turned to outrage upon discovering that the abduction was a hoax in order to film a YouTube video to promote “kidnapping awareness,” according to the creators


http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2014/04/fake-wash-child-kidnapping-sparks-outrage/

 

[Softail]

Fake child abduction posted on YouTube outrages parents

http://www.today.com/video/today/54974262#54974262


Marc Klaas weighs in....

 

[Sonya610]

Having watched the clips of the video if I had been at that park (with my dog or whatever) and saw that I would have assumed it was a parental abduction situation.

It happened so fast and the guys looked prepared, I would have written it off as some sort of family dispute and not immediately assumed it was a violent crime.

 

[Softail]

Just my :twocents: - I think these 2 knuckleheads decided to make it a "teaching moment" only after they were caught. I don't think the intention was originally to be a teaching moment at all.

 

[eileenhawkeye]

REAL violent crimes always carry a risk and the criminals know that. TV shows that enjoy filming "hoax" violent crimes know that the risk involved in filming the hoax in an area where the population is heavily armed and may intervene is WAY TOO HIGH!

If TV producers decided to film a "hoax abduction" in the parking lot of our grocery store (like the hoax on oprah's show where a woman in business attire was screaming while being attacked/dragged away by a scruffy looking man and dozens of witnesses sat in their car and honked their horns -- too afraid to help her) the risk would be WAY too high! If folks heard a woman screaming and begging for help as she was being attacked there is an extremely high likelihood that the folks around here would come to her aid and employ deadly force to stop the attack.

The liability involved for tv producers would make the whole idea completely out of the question.

Sorry but your grocery store isn't that special. No matter where you are, people will not want to get involved. People will think it is some domestic dispute rather than a kidnapping. Actually, I am sure there are many cases of boyfriends abusing their girlfriends in public---why aren't they shot dead by some armed citizen? It is also likely that there won't be that many people in the parking lot when something like this occurs, as most are just walking to/from the store/their car. Abductions are quick, people are not going to have time to realize what is going to happen, and then react. What happens if they shoot the victim? <modsnip>

 

[Gardenlady]

I wonder why all the armed crazies in, say, Florida are shooting dads at movie theaters and black kids playing their music too loud, etc, instead of shooting all the abductors their state seems to have?

hoh: :facepalm: :help:

 

[Harmony 2]

Please steer away from the political posts... we have a designated area for those type of posts... please adhere to the topic of the thread. thanks