It’s wild how many people don’t recognize this as batshit crazy/drug fueled behavior. No sane/sober person acts like this in a fender bender even if they are afraid of their abuser at home. That makes ZERO sense. She can clearly see the guy is video taping, so there is no avoiding her grandma finding out.
And that proves what exactly? Which specific drug is she on that makes her behave like this? If you're so certain this behaviour is caused by drugs you should have a good idea which drug it is.
Probably amphetamines, potentially MDMA mixed with speed. MDMA generally makes you content but can also cause irrational fear and panic for no apparent reason, it generally makes you emotionally more volatile. And she looks quite hyperactive in general, which would fit that drug.
it isnt necessarily the specific drug but her knowing if she avoids the cops long enough, they won’t be able to test for whatever substances might be in her system at the time of the accident, proving she was driving under the influence.
The proof that she was under the influence of something? How many times do people have to say this story is years old and she got sent into a substance abuse recovery program because of her actions here?
As someone who was abused- ya no. Anyone who was abused but is SANE and SOBER has the logic to know that doing all this crazy shit on camera is just gonna make the abuse even worse. A panic attack is one thing and this isnt what a sane/sober panic attack looks like at all. This woman was not sober, it is a literal fact, go look up the story. This happened years ago
As someone who was abused- ya no. Anyone who was abused but is SANE and SOBER has the logic to know that doing all this crazy shit on camera is just gonna make the abuse even worse.
Yeah she's legitimately terrified of the consequences of her actions and is going to lengths to avoid them and very upset at the prospect of not being able to.
I would have done something close to this. I would have been seriously considering carving my own face to make it look like I'd been injured and maybe get a lighter reaction at home.
Does this mean that my home life wasn't ... wasn't ... oh hell, I know it wasn't, but for some reason your "legitimately terrified" really brought up all those memories for me.
Idk why u get downvoted. She had to get substance abuse training after this. She clearly fucked up on Drugs and probably had them on her too. Idk why people making excuses just cause she seems scared. She seems like a real piece of shit driving while fucked up an risking other peoples lifes.
I think it's the opposite. It's easy to feel empathy for strangers online when you want to feel bad for that person or view them as the victim. And feel good about yourself for advocating for whatever made up backstory you assign.
Not so much in real life when your car gets hit or some other huge problem caused by someone's stupidity or malice.
Because we really shouldn't be empathizing with people like this.
This is an adullt who is operating a machine that requires a license, and after striking a vehicle she almost struck a person. And we're... meant to feel sorry for her? We all have to conform to the same laws and responsibilities. Her grandma could be the meanest cur in the world, and she may be going through some shit, but that still doesn't excuse this behavior in any way.
It doesn't happen online much because it shouldn't. There are some situations where accountability take precedence over situational speculation.
You can empathize with someone and not give them a free pass. They don't stop being people just because they did something bad and its ok to feel sorry for them, even if punishing them is still correct.
Agreed. She looked like she needed help as well as punishment. What she did was wrong and irrational, but she wasn't in a rational state of mind by the looks of it.
Thank you. As hard as it is to watch her, the guy in the video is beyond cringe. He has her blocked in and he’s egging her on with comments like “double felony”, “you almost hit me!”
Get whatever video you need to document her and her car, but it was clear she was going to do whatever she needed to get out of there. I’d take self-preservation measures for me and my car, then let the cops and my insurance figure it out. Dude just wanted to bully her and make it worse. He was actively making the situation more dangerous.
This person demanded understanding for themselves while refusing to recognize the humanity of the person they've caused harm to (the person who was the victim of the hit and run).
This person showed no remorse and continue harming others when they could have stopped (by getting out of the car and doing the right thing).
The person attempted to manipulate the victim (the person recording) into feeling sorry for them specifically to escape accountability.
None of those behaviors deserve empathy. And this comes from the son of a former addict.
You expect rationality from the irrational. They could have stopped the car. They could also have not hit and run in the first place, or consumed any addictive substance. But they didn't because they weren't able to think clearly. And while none of the behaviours you listed deserve empathy, the person themselves does if it is apparent that they need help.
And no, nobody is excusing illegal behaviour. It is why the woman in the video was arrested. It is why I said they should be punished, as well as provided help.
Please do not mistake empathising with "we think this person did no wrong and should be free to do whatever."
I don't feel sorry for anyone operating a vehicle putting others at risk with bad decisions. I don't have a perfect driving record, and have rightfully felt the consequences. Empathy didn't help me improve, but living + learning with consequence did.
Plenty of people with their own sets of physical or mental disabilities go their entire lives without the behavior seen here. This is fear of individual consequences weighed against the safety of others, and that type of selfishness should be admonished, not empathized-with.
two things can be true at once. i feel very, very strongly about it being unjustifiably selfish, reckless and harmful to drive dangerously. whether that's from drugs, alcohol, extreme emotions, or "fun." at least where i live, the "penalties" for driving like an asshole are basically nothing, and it really bothers me.
i walk everywhere. drivers are a risk to me. i've known two people struck by drunk drivers while on a bike.
but this girl looks terrified. i believe she is experiencing real terror here. i think the most likely cause of her reaction is fear of abuse from her grandmother.
I think it's important to empathize with people even when they make mistakes. sometimes I think "what would have to happen to me for me to act like that?" and then I think about how bad the abuse must have been for her to weigh her options and decide to leave.
i am always going to condemn unsafe drivers and i am always going to empathize with people in abusive homes. two things can be true at once.
I was thinking the same thing.
I mean, yes its obvious that what she did was wrong. But her reaction and behaviour insinuates something else entirely.
Plus the guy trying to film her and agitate her when she’s not thinking clearly doesn’t help. Approaching and helping her in a calm manner is the best thing here for all parties involved.
Yeah imagine if this is a 22 year old man flipping out on someone recording him because of a hit and run, saying they are scared of their grandma. The comments would be packed with jokes ripping the man baby apart.
Yeah, the cameraman is being antagonistic to someone who is clearly in an unstable headspace. I get why he is angry but he is only making it worse. I dont like how he said "this is your last chance." He was clearly trying to intimidate her to some degree which only made things get worse for both of them.
For real. The guy was being self righteous saying she needed to do the right thing. But the right thing for him to do was to either try to understand or stay out of it and just get the license plate number.
And it turns out it wasnt even his car that got hit, he was a bystander that got involved and parked his car behind hers to make her stay until the cops came
Justin Thompson was driving near Railroad Canyon Road and the 15 Freeway in Wednesday afternoon in Lake Elsinore when he said he saw a driver crash into another car, then leave the scene. The seemingly distraught driver then pulled into a Chevron gas station parking lot, where Thompson parked his minivan behind her sedan, pinning it into a parking space bordered by vacuum cleaners on one side and a curb on the other.
Not absolving her, but screw Justin. She's obviously going through it and this guy chooses some vigilante antagonism, making one of the worst days of her life even worse. This may be wishful thinking, but imagine what some gentle words might have done here. Or even just leaving her alone to to catch her breath -- and the proper authorities to catch her.
The video shows a woman who is so terrified of something that she is in full flight mode. For all we knew, she had a pimp in pursuit intent on doing harm or worse.
Yeah this is sad. She seems like a teenager and the guy recording sounds older. He probably could have calmed her by trying to be empathetic. I get that she’s wrong but god damn yall, have some compassion for a kid who clearly gets abused by grandma and probably has absent parents.
She's 22 and he has no responsibility to sooth a person who's trying to screw him over. I feel bad for the lady, she's obviously in a bad place. That doesn't mean she can go around drinking and driving hitting people's car and we're just supposed to let her go.
He doesn't need to soothe her, that would require the patience of a saint, but I personally think the things he said were clearly making her feel intimidated and panicked. Even putting aside how it affected her, I think he only made the situation more dangerous and unpredictable with what he was saying. He probably would've been better off just recording and not saying much, I get why he is angry though.
I mean im more talking about the fact that its better to not possibly make the person breaking the law feel intimidated when they are already clearly having an episode. She is undeniably in the wrong, but it does no good to intimidate and has a decent chance of worsening the situation.
Being upset that you fucked up doesn't change the fact that you fucked up. She should be punished for what she did, no matter how much she cries about it.
Bystanders should try to stop people trying to DUI. It literally saves people's lives. Wtf are you talking about? He should have tried to take her keys at the least, even if it requires using force because people like this woman KILL AND INJURE OTHER PEOPLE. do you understand the stakes? Or you see a hot woman in distress and your logical thinking just shuts down?
Yeah, I mean I dont really have much sympathy either in this situation. I just think that it has the potential to worsen the situation when someone like the cameraman says things that are clearly making her feel intimidated. It's good he was recording. If I were in his shoes I think I would try to not interact with her verbally though because she is clearly having an episode and panicking her could legitimately cause more destruction of property.
Historically, comparing people to animals has been used as a psychological tool to justify mistreatment, cruelty, and discrimination by stripping away their human rights.
There's always one of these comments under every post. It is sad, hopefully she's doing better now.
But the dude got his car hit and this girl is trying to run away and avoid all consequences. So now keep that energy and show compassion for the dude.
Maybe he doesn't have the money right now to make repairs, maybe he's got a lot of stress too. He does not in any way, shape, or form, have to be calm and empathetic here. He's probably just thinking of trying to make sure the police get there before she get away so he's not stuck paying for all the damages himself.
Be empathetic to her that's fine but don't act like the dude did anything wrong because he didn't
Yeah for real, I felt so bad for her. She's obviously having a bad day and has a rough life at home. As a dad of teenage daughters I definitely would have been nicer and more understanding than the person recording.
What if this woman run over your teenage daughters? I think it's ok to try to stop DUI drivers and we don't owe them any pleasantries because they kill and severely injure people.
Let's be honest, you would sing a different song if the driver was male.
I mean, that’s one option, but that’s far from the only option, and other options include “thinking you can get out of stuff by being a young white lady who says sorry”
lol what? I literally said she was wrong. She is clearly in distress. If I were in the man's situation, I would have told her to take some deep breaths while we wait for the cops.
As a brown woman myself, what the fuck does this have to do with race? God, reddit people really are the fucking worst.
The internet sees a girl cry and is ready to empathize with anything. She's a 22 year old, probably intoxicated, and nearly runs a guy over in her tantrum. Maybe she needs rehab or therapy too but I'd settle for prison where we can be confident she won't run people over to avoid a bill for a fender. A couple years will give her time to get out of her addiction and forget about whatever loser drama has got her so riled.
Sh'es just drunk and irrational, and knows staying means an arrest and her vehicle impounded as well as court fees and all the stuff you gotta do when you hit with a DUI--it's legit so expensive.
She did the best thing by leaving, in terms of pure survival. Not the morally right thing to do, but she knew what was up lol
Agreed. Like I understand the guy video taping because she did hit and run him but it seems like this lady is in middle of a severe mental health episode.
Yup. I bet her lawyer has a field day with the guy blocking her in, and video taping her while she is clearly having a mental breakdown. I’m not excusing her behavior and for all I know she was 100% in the wrong, but this didn’t have to escalate the way it did.
She is 100% in the middle of having a nervous breakdown and fuck face with the camera feels like having to call his insurance gives him the right to trap her. Endangers her, endangers himself, endangers the other people in the parking lot (lady in the red SUV noped out real quick when she saw what was happening). Then gets mad that his own shitty decisions also have consequences.
What the... I've seen so many comments like this, are you people all fucking simple?
"Let a high 22yo, who already got in an accident and is attempting to run, continue to operate her multi ton machine that goes fast"
Boxing her is, keeping her there where the only damage she can do is to property and herself, not let's say, a fucking pedestrian, is very much the prefered outcome here.
298
u/JustletmeBee2026 Aug 20 '26
She seems legitimately distressed.