The other day, I went to the bank to deposit some money and to say hi to my banker. I’m still building that relationship, and I think it’s going well. I step out of the bank, which is in a busy mall like area.

I hear all this honking and screaming going on in the parking lot. I scan the area and I see it is coming from the grocery store. Apparently, a truck is pulling out of the parking lot with a baby carrier on top of the roof!! There are people honking their horns and other people even running after the car waving their arms wildly in the air. I’ve seen something like this before on [I]Jackass[/I], an MTV show. Some of the people catch up to the truck and the driver gets out and grabs the carrier off the roof and brings it into the car. There didn’t seem to be much concern or gratefulness on the driver’s part which confirmed my suspicions that this was just a stunt.

The fact is, every parent I’ve ever seen puts their baby into the car before their groceries. Sure some don’t, but they sure as hell don’t try to lift 15 lbs onto their roof, just to put a few bags in. Most parents I see, buckle their kids in first if anything. Then they tend to the bags. I rarely see anyone even put groceries on their car. These people were just doing this as a prank. To get a rise out of people, just like what happened on the TV show.

It got me thinking. If I were to see this and be in my car and I swerved to stop the car and they struck me, would I be a hero or at fault in a car accident. If someone had a heart attack at seeing such a horrible sight, would the driver be at fault? Could the police arrest the driver for upsetting people like that?

In my opinion, causing a disturbance like that was the same as yelling fire in a movie theater. There was an intent to deceive and the fact that it was for someone’s amusement is in no way an excuse. In fact, it should earn a more severe punishment. I’m all for amusement when people don’t get hurt, but when people are hurt, emotionally, mentally or physically, someone must pay. Sure on [I]Candid Camera[/I], people laugh afterwards, but they border on grounds for a lawsuit too. I’m not a hardass, ask anyone who knows me, but when I see recklessness like I saw in that parking lot, the jovial side of me goes on a long vacation. I just wanted to share my thoughts on a humorless event.