Be very careful when rolling down your car window to a stranger. That’s the take-away of a recent video posted to TikTok describing how a purported interaction in a parking lot supposedly led to a high-speed car chase.
But did it happen the way the original poster describes? Or was he merely chasing likes on the popular social media platform?
Vlogger RANTS FROM THE SHOWER’s (@nickfromohio) TikTok account is filled with jaw-dropping video stories, including several surprising—and completely unverified—celebrity encounters. “Nick” has claimed to have hugged Taylor Swift at a “video promotion” at a Times Square McDonald’s.
Nick has also claimed to have had a noisy altercation with singer Olivia Rodrigo in a Paris park. He has also described having ice cream in South Beach with Selena Gomez—in a video perhaps tellingly captioned, “Can you give me things that never happened for 300?”
In a video posted on Monday, which currently has 277,700 views, Nick told his viewer that he was involved in a high-speed chase after a stranger approached Nick and his girlfriend in his vehicle and asked him to roll down the window.
Nick claims he was talking to a girl (later referred to as his girlfriend) in his car outside her house. He then claims a man “knocks on my window and points to roll it down.” He stated that he couldn’t see the man’s face.
He says he quickly locked the door and claims the girl told him she didn’t feel safe.
“Thankfully, the car was on. We were just sitting in park, so I put it into drive. I wheel out of there, and I look in my rearview mirror,” he tells his viewers. He claims the man got into his car and then began pursuing them.
Nick claims the man followed them from a residential area to a more populated main road. At this point, he says the girl in the car began to call 9-1-1.
“I’m speeding really fast, running red lights, like, honking my horn,” he claims. He says the girl wasn’t wearing her glasses and could not describe any landmarks to the 9-1-1 operator. Nick then says he decided to get on a highway to get away from the man he says was pursuing them.
Nick says the man pulled up to their side, and his girlfriend yelled, “Gun!”
“I look to my right, and he has it out the window … pointing directly at us,” he says.
He claims at this point, he was driving at 120 mph.
@nickfromohio This was the craziest experience of my life! #fyp ♬ original sound – RANTS FROM THE SHOWER
“Eventually, the cops find us,” he claims. “We get surrounded by 10 police officers, but the car [pursuing us] got away.”
He claims they were questioned and released and that he hasn’t received any more information from law enforcement regarding the case.
Nick did not state the location of the alleged chase, which law enforcement agency he claims dealt with, nor did he specify the date the chase supposedly occurred. Given the lack of detail, it has to be said that the story should be consumed with some suspicion.
Nick seems to want to maintain a certain level of deniability regarding his video. His account bio states, “This account is (not) satire.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to Nick via TikTok direct message for a statement.
As for rolling down your window for a real stranger? According to Evan Dzierzynski, Owner and Lead Coach of NOVA Self Defense, “being seated and strapped into a vehicle puts you at risk. Rolling down your window and engaging heightens the risk exponentially.” It’s likely the best advice to keep your window up.
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Source: https://www.dailydot.com/news/dont-roll-window-for-strangers/