Collision is low-speed even by human running standards.
In general, we expect scam artists to be at least somewhat artful in their deception. After all, if a scam has no legitimate chance of fooling anyone, it’s more efficient, in terms of both time and energy, to just come right out and say “Look, I’d like your money, so will you give me some?”
But just like there are people who try to paint pictures despite having no aesthetic aptitude, some would-be scammers don’t really have the talent to become scam “artists.” That brings us to this woman who Japanese Twitter user @Byakko_Kyosuke ran into, literally, while driving through Kochi City on the island of Shikoku.
As the video starts, @Byakko_Kyosuke is driving at a leisurely pace through an intersection. Before he makes it to the other side, though, a woman comes trotting into the street from the sidewalk.
Luckily, @Byakko_Kyosuke’s car is traveling slowly enough that he’s able to step on the brake pedal and bring the car to a complete stop before hitting the woman. What he can’t prevent, though, is the woman hitting his car, as she launches herself into the air and purposely slams into the windshield of his already-stopped vehicle.
“What are you doing, you ditz?” asks @Byakko_Kyosuke, his voice a calm mix of weariness and bewilderment. “Kill me,” the woman pants, out of breath from her jog and jump. “Are you nuts?” @Byakko_Kyosuke replies, to which she once again says “Kill me.”
Giving up on continuing the dialogue any further, @Byakko_Kyosuke mutters “Guess I’ll call the cops…” followed by “What is she thinking?” and a final bout of “Hey hey hey!” before the video ends.
Despite the woman asking for @Byakko_Kyosuke to kill her, the general consensus seems to be that she’s not genuinely suicidal, given her lackadaisical running speed and that the car was already stopped before she jumped into it. Most feel she was trying to pull a scam, hoping that @Byakko_Kyosuke would be willing to pay her off to avoid an insurance claim or police investigation. When @Byakko_Kyosuke contacted the police, they sent an ambulance, and officers told him that the woman has repeatedly leapt in front of bicycles and scooters being ridden in the neighborhood.
@Byakko_Kyosuke doesn’t mention whether or not the woman was taken into custody, but he does say that he provided the police with a copy of the video from his drive recorder. Hopefully that will be enough to identify her, since running into traffic and jumping into cars is something that will eventually get you hurt, regardless of whether or not that’s your actual goal.
Source: Twitter/@Byakko_Kyosuke via Hachima Kiko