Jalopnik
People will do some pretty stupid things for a TV, or so we're learning today. First, it was the idiot burglar with the alligator in his Buick Regal and now we have the story of a trio of not-so-bright Tennesseans who really wanted to get a television home. But there were three of them and a television, and not all of them could fit in the passenger area of their Toyota Corolla. Their solution? Put the kid in the trunk and the television in the backseat. They'd have gotten away with it, too, but someone called the cops after seeing the kid, who apparently consented, get into the trunk.
Everyone was okay, but the man and woman who were lucky enough to sit inside the car were arrested over what looks like a shitty television anyways. If only these idiots read books. Oh well, at least the sheriff seemed to get a good laugh out of it. Bonnie and Cylde were actually ratted out by a relative who saw the event unfolding. If that may seem cold just remember that most people in Tennessee are related. [WSMV]
Comments
Sometimes, this stuff really is too good to be true.
I bet his Trunk Monkey was PISSED!
2008 moment. Rednecks getting pulled over driving a Toyota.
When I was 16 - and younger - I rode in worse places just for fun.
We call that a Mexican Living room...
What, nobody else here rode in the trunk when they were kids?
How did you get into the drive-in?
Really... what were the rear-facing jump seats in old wagons but fancy trunk seating!
Wow, this wouldn't have been so unusual back in the 70s or 80s, before the prefect storm proliferation of media fearmongering and busybody insta-fame.
This is no dumber than anyone riding in the back of a pickup, and I see that almost daily. I mean Veo esto casí todos los días
@БЯд╒╒ ♂: I thought that was a toyo van/Astro Van
seriously: we're HUGE pussies now. sure it's stupid, but not THAT stupid. funny, we don't get as outraged as a nation over big, ugly, international news stories.
i think we like stories that we can get indignant over, without having to actually be afraid or threatened.
humans love a "look how stupid everybody but me is" story.
@ash78: Exactly! Man, I used to love riding in the truck bed as a kid in the summer.
I'm beginning to think we just need to get it over with already and put today's kids in padded hamster balls.
Y'know, they could have just abandoned the kid at the store.
"not-so-bright Tennesseans"
you could have saved typing space and just wrote "Tennesseans" ;)
Great example of the shallow end of the gene pool
If they had a Cavalier they could have just strapped the TV to the trunk with bungie cords.
[jalopnik.com]
if there's one thing i hate more than cops, it's busybodies. anyone ever heard of the 11th amendment? the right of people to be secure in their persons, their trunks, and their persons in their trunks *shall not be infringed*
fuck this, i'm voting for ron paul.
I'm pretty sure the tv is more valuable than the kid, so I see no problem here.
[freerangekids.wordpress.com]
Not the same, but in the same vein. I've personally ridden in trunks, rumble seats, Brat seats, campers, camper trailers, and truck beds. No worse for the wear.
@NICKNICK: Germans? Forget it, he's rolling.
"even our news van is an suv chortle chortle" god I hate talking heads.
According to the Reno Sheriff's Department, a healthy baby is worth $10-20,000 on the Internet, even if its Chinese, so that would have to be a pretty expensive TV to warrant treating a kid that way.
Think about it, you wouldn't just throw your expensive stereo equipment in the trunk would you?
go vols
christ, how many tv's do they have in their back seat??
[blogs.move.com]
People should be allowed to ride in trunks if they want to. I once rode in the trunk of a 99 Civic sedan to see Dolemite at the Drive-in. That night they were giving out free pictures of Rudy Ray Moore and he was there to autographed them. His words of advice to me:
"Put your weight on it"
What was the problem, too much punk in the trunk?
seriously. that is useless news, and i agree about the fearmongering media. it's about as useless as the time i read in the lake charles papar that willie nelson got busted for possession of marijuana in his bus at a lafayette weigh station. now if this tn family had a tv and a COUGAR in the back seat with the kid in the trunk, it might draw a reaction.
Just the other day at the NYAIS I saw two businessmen in suits get out of a 350Z in front of the convention hall... and walk around back to let their buddy (also in a suit) out of the trunk.
What is so weird about that if it is for short distances?
dangit. you'd think i could spell paper.
Now that I think of it, not so long ago we had 8 of us in my folks' Grand Am coupe. Only two had to ride in the trunk. It was just a ten minute ride back to the hotel.
@ranwhenparked: Kids depreciate faster than a Jeep Commander. $10-20K is for a newborn. Anything over about 2 or 3 years old and you would need to pay someone to take them. The TV is probably a better investment. ;-)
A friend of mine's step dad owned a 60s Ford Galaxie 500 that he classed out with home interior carpet. New, not used, curbside stuff mind you, nothing but the best!
The mom would load about a dozen of us kids in that thing (and the trunk) to get to the swimming pool. At least riding in the trunk we had plenty of room and nobody elbowing you.
Ah Nashville. Everyday making me prouder of moving here.
Seriously...When I was a kid, this was a normal occurance. Then the "baby on board" crap came out and you had to be strapped in like an astronaut to be able to ride your bike. Geez. Lighten up. How are kids going to have awesome stories and scars to prove it if they're constantly protected?
Hey, you can always get another kid for free, pretty much.
I can recall a bunch of us,as teens,inebriated and otherwise impaired, riding/sleeping in the bed of a pick-up rolling along at what seemed like very high speed. It was a nice, clear warm night. These days the safety nannies would have had us all arrested.
I knew I was getting old when some younger relatives said they were going to Mardi Gras and asked if I wanted to go--so where are you staying?--and they said, "we're sleeping in the back of the pick up truck." Now it doesn't seem like such a good idea; they said, "Oh, it's ok, don't worry, we have a tarp!" Ah, youth.
@skyln95: Mebbe not if y'alls from Lake Charles. ;)
Bodies in trunks: In my town and time we had a tradition of celebrating our friends' birthdays by kidnapping them, tying their hands behind their backs, stuffing the birthday victim in the trunk, driving them several miles down a long (and preferably very bumpy) logging road, then 'dumping the body' and driving off.
This was considered 'good clean fun' and even the parents always thought it was pretty funny. We're not talking redneck parents, but doctors, schoolteachers, grocery store managers.
So yeah, we're all a bunch of wimps these days.
Seriously, my Grandma's '70 New Yorker hardtop 4-dr. was at my disposal after I got my license at age 16 (and became Grandma's de facto chauffeur). Teenagers, summer vacation, and drive-in movies converged neatly for me. That land yacht had a huge trunk, and worked better for drive-in smuggling; "my" Ford wagon offered no opportunities for concealment. We'd ride together to the "101 Drive-In" in Ventura, and move all but two occupants into the trunk when we were about a block away from the theater.
(The 101 Drive-In got smart in later years and went to a flat fee per car).
@lascauxcaveman: So what you're saying is that you grew up in Jersey?
Two guys I know got out of the then Czechoslovakia under the rear seat of a Ford. Their very happy Americans today.
The TV in this story was definitely worth it. It's not as if the kid was holding on to the roof or anything really dangerous like that.
This Sorta reminds me of an accident that happened down here during the easter holidays
[www.news.com.au]
two kids sitting in the boot of a stolen car to make way for the plasma TV (also Stolen) hitting a tree at high speed
@graverobber- Same great taste, new low price!: Western Washington (state), actually.
Do they even have logging roads in Jersey?
@graverobber- Same great taste, new low price!: Oh I get it, now. Jersey, like the Sopranos and all 'at?
No, we didn't actually whack anybody; we'd only give this treatment to our very best friends.
Sorry, I'm a little slow on the uptake today. I just noticed I'm suddenly a Jalopnik Cotomer Sevis Representative™ and as I understand it, that automatically lowers your IQ by a good ten points. This also explains why my ability to spell is in the shitter today. Apologies to all & sundry,
Yr Ob't S'vnt,
Caveman
@lascauxcaveman: Welcome to the dubious ranks of the Jalopnik CSRs, dude...! The honor carries with it tremendous responsibilities blah, blah, blah... oh shut up Charles, and have another martini...
@charles_barrett: @lascauxcaveman:
What does it all MEAN??!!
...Oh nothing? Ok... I can live with that.
I used to ride on the back of my old 71' Superbeetle. I'd stand on the rear bumper and being large and lanky enough, I was able to reach (6ft arm span)and hang on to the tops of the window openings on both sides.
Then I have a friend do some circle work in a grass field. It was fuck fun (almost) until my driver swapped direction mid doughnut and slingshot me off the back. I landed about 15ft away on soft grass so all was well.
Good heavens, we're raising a generation of wusses. My cousins and I constantly rode in the back area of our parents' Datsuns. It was the routine. Dad would say, "Watch your heads and close the hatchback on his F10. Likewise with my aunt and uncle and their Datsun wagon.
In junior high, our drafting teacher drove a half-dozen of us in the back of his full-size truck. It was how we got home after there was flooding in our town.
In high school, when I was all of 4'6" I was the 6th rider in a 1985 Escort. In none of these instances did I ever fear for my safety.
@LandofMinos: Somehow your story reminded me of a pastime from my misspent youth....Couch surfing.This was a sport wherein one would procure an old couch,tie it to the back of a vehicle with a nice length of strong rope and proceed to drag it down the street/streets (with a passenger of course) until said couch disintegrated.Old armchairs were great too,but the try with the box spring didn't work so good (no place to hang on.We did this in Orange County (Costa Mesa mostly),sometimes I'm amazed I've made it to my mid forties.
@LaughingAtFate: So they stole a TV, then stole gas, then ran from the cops... then after the cops stopped chasing them do to the dangers of a high speed chase... they crash into a tree. Fantastic!
Seriously, my only disappointment is that they aren't all critically wounded and/or dead. I want all of those kids off the street and out of our lives.
Speaking of TVs in cars, one night I was driving across town to my buddy's house when I came up behind a black last-gen Grand Prix. After sitting behind it at a stop light for a while, I noticed they had a TV wedged between the two front seats, and it was on. A couple miles later at a stop sign, I realized they were playing a porno. I don't think anyone was in the back seat (unless they were lying down), so it appears that these Good Samaritans were simply providing wood to anyone who happened to be behind them.