Car Thief Tries To Blame GTA For His Actions

from the nope dept

Fri, Sep 27th 2013 11:25am — Timothy Geigner

One thing I have never considered when writing up all the different examples of major media jumping into the blame-video-games pool with both feet is that there are actually a great many people in this world that enjoy watching the news and don't think it's anything more than a dolled-up theater of false controversy. But, unfortunately, such people exist. Apparently, they even exist in American colleges, because here's a stupid tale of one Auburn lacrosse player who stole a truck and then tried to blame his own actions on Grand Theft Auto. Must have been a cable news fan, given that imitation is the best sort of flattery and all that.

Around 2:30 a.m. Saturday morning, according to Baton Rouge police, Burgess hopped in the open cab of an idling truck outside a bar, not realizing or not caring that there was a woman in the passenger's seat. He tried to speed off with the woman along for the ride, but ended up ramming into nine different parked cars before the woman was able to jump to safety.

During questioning Burgess allegedly told an officer that he “wanted to see what it was really like to play the video game Grand Theft Auto.”

You just know the news coverage of this incident attempted to create the first recursive loop based solely on stupidity, running his "excuse" all over their broadcasts. Unfortunately, Burgess is full of crap. See, I've played enough GTA to know that he certainly did not want to see what the game was like if played in real life. Otherwise, he'd be admitting he wanted to experience this. But, no, Burgess didn't attempt to experience any of those parts of the game in real life, did he? That's because he just wanted to steal a truck from out front a bar, because lacrosse just ain't exciting enough. He can attempt to pawn his stupidity off on a video game all he wants, but he'll still be charged with hit and run, theft, and kidnapping all the same. Meanwhile, millions of fans of GTA will go on playing the game without behaving like an idiot.

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Filed Under: blame, gta, stealing cars

31 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 27 Sep 2013 @ 11:31am

After playing Mario Brothers, I like to go out in my yard and jump up and down on mushrooms.
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- Anonymous Monkey (profile), 27 Sep 2013 @ 11:52am
  
  Re:
  and kick turtles...
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  - Techanon, 27 Sep 2013 @ 1:18pm
    
    Re: Re:
    ... and bash my head (or fists) against floating bricks, eat a flaming flower and then spew fireballs from my hands, put on a raccoon catsuit and fly, put a cape and fly, ride on dinosaurs, walk on clouds, travel on plumbing pipes, eat a mushroom and feel I'm twice my size...
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Anonymous Coward, 27 Sep 2013 @ 2:59pm
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      seems to me you ate the mushrooms first, but hey...just a technicality.
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
      - PRMan, 30 Sep 2013 @ 2:02pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re:
        To be fair, so does Mario. It's always the first thing he does in the game...
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- Ninja (profile), 27 Sep 2013 @ 11:53am
  
  Re:
  Oh good, if you thought of smelling them it would be an issue. Please don't jump on turtles, PETA will be mad.
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- Zakida Paul (profile), 27 Sep 2013 @ 11:57am
  
  Re:
  After playing Pacman, I like to go and eat a bunch of small dots and fruit for extra points.
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  - John Fenderson (profile), 27 Sep 2013 @ 12:19pm
    
    Re: Re:
    Reminds me of the joke from Marcus Brigstocke:
    
    If Pac-Man had affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in dark rooms, munching pills and listening to repetitive electronic music.
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    - Internet Zen Master (profile), 27 Sep 2013 @ 1:16pm
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      The people you see at raves nomming on ecstasy pills must be real fans of Pac-Man then.
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      - Anonymous Coward, 27 Sep 2013 @ 7:15pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re:
        No flys on you are there.
        Explaining jokes doesn't make the joke funnier, it makes you look dumber.
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  - Anonymous, 27 Sep 2013 @ 4:53pm
    
    Re: Re:
    After playing Custer's Revenge, I like to...well, I should probably plead whatever's left of the fifth amendment here.
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- Anonymous Coward, 30 Sep 2013 @ 5:52am
  
  Re:
  Nice! When I'm playing Guitar Hero I get the urge to play real life heroin hero.
  
  After Duke Nukem I go around telling random strangers to "blow it out your ass"
  
  After a 60hour Diablo 2 session I get the urge to kill my neighbors cow. "Someone will get that one lol"
  
  After playing Custer's Revenge on Atari I have to go watch stick porn.
  
  And finally as for Mario I almost do the same thing.. Okay, okay.. Yeah I'm lying, I cannot bring myself to waste muShrooms.
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Anonymous Coward, 27 Sep 2013 @ 11:50am

This is not the first time some one has tried to claim that some video game is responsible for their behavior. It's really an attempt to shift the blame for their own actions to something else rather than the truth of he is going to be held responsible for his own actions.

The sad part in all this is that in his attempt to shift the blame, he is going to feed those who really want to blame video games for violent behavior more ammo to use. Of course this idiot doesn't care, he just wants off the hook.

I love to play FPSers. Run around in the game and shoot all the bad dudes. Do I want to do that in real life? Not a chance as I know and recognize the difference between real life and a video game. There is no reset in real life. As someone else just a day or so ago stated the real thrill is knowing that you don't die in the game, you just start over till you get it right. I have no illusions that taking a bullet is going to do no damage. I also know that I won't be able to hit some sort of reset button and try it again. In RL damage is permanent with no re-do.

What does happen is I work any type of aggression out in that game. I have no want of toting a gun down main street or where ever. I have no urge to see how many innocents can be slain before it catches up to you.

The problem isn't the video game. The problem is mental health with no facilities to go to that don't cost a fortune if you can find one for those that really need it.
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- Ninja (profile), 27 Sep 2013 @ 11:56am
  
  Re:
  I've been looking for aliens to shoot ever since I played Duke Nukem. Bastards are good at hiding though =/
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  - Anonymous, 27 Sep 2013 @ 4:55pm
    
    Re: Re:
    You can find them streaming across the southern border everyday. And since the government isn't doing anything about it, you might as well.
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    - Anonymous Coward, 1 Oct 2013 @ 4:18am
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      Yes, we get illegal English entering our bonny Scotland all the time. And I'm sure Ninja gets illegal Argentinians escaping Kirchner to the joys of Brazil.
      
      Oh, you were trying Rethuglican ranting points in a totally 'Murican-centric universe?
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Nomis, 27 Sep 2013 @ 11:53am

Obviously been watching too much Clapper et al.
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Ninja (profile), 27 Sep 2013 @ 11:55am

Now imagine if he played Prince of Persia. *looks at Parkour players* Never mind.
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weneedhelp (profile), 27 Sep 2013 @ 12:00pm

Parking meters
Every time I see a parking meter I just want to plow those bad boys into oblivion. Oh and... hookers too.
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out_of_the_blue, 27 Sep 2013 @ 12:08pm

And as usual Timmy denies (4 days later) the rather obvious associations
between violent video games and actual crimes. -- They CANNOT do you any good, kids. It's just not possible. You're not only wasting the precious hours of your youth, you're warping your already weak minds with wicked fantansies, and taking Computer-Assisted Instruction for crime.

This is probably the original:

http://www.live5news.com/story/23509833/auburn-student-arrested-after-trying-to-recreat e-video-game-in-real-life

Which has this indicator he's a typical rich frat boy:
Prison records show Burgess paid his $40,000 bond.
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- Zakida Paul (profile), 27 Sep 2013 @ 12:12pm
  
  Re: And as usual Timmy denies (4 days later) the rather obvious associations
  And once again OOTB ignores the fact that correlation is not causation.
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- Anonymous Coward, 27 Sep 2013 @ 12:15pm
  
  Re: And as usual Timmy denies (4 days later) the rather obvious associations
  Actually the only probable link is that aggressive people prone to that kind of behavior already would like those in special, along with the other millions that bought the game and made Take Two the first billion dollars in three days.
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- Anonymous Coward, 27 Sep 2013 @ 2:43pm
  
  Re: And as usual Timmy denies (4 days later) the rather obvious associations
  to use a word correctly that you misuse: people who hurt/steal from others because of what they saw in a game are an anomaly
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Anonymous Coward, 27 Sep 2013 @ 12:08pm

I had a friend who jumped from the second story of a building with an umbrella to see if it worked like in the cartoons once. he broke both legs though.

On other news murderers use Tweeter to announce who they are going to kill.

http://www.wired.com/underwire/2013/09/gangs-of-social-media/
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Anonymous Coward, 27 Sep 2013 @ 12:20pm

He's obviously mentally ill.
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Anonymous Coward, 27 Sep 2013 @ 12:27pm

Sorry - this, while fun, the gold standard for defence is Woody Harrelson claiming he was still in character for Zombieland and mistook a reporter for a zombie.
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GMacGuffin (profile), 27 Sep 2013 @ 12:44pm

Death via Houdini-style gut-kick from trailer park tweaker lady is probably my fav from the video.
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Anonymous Coward, 27 Sep 2013 @ 1:27pm

He gets exactly what he wanted though. He will now see exactly what happens when you play GTA in real life. You get charged with hit and run, theft, and kidnapping. Then you go spend time in jail. I think most people don't need to try it to figure out what will happen though.
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Anonymous Coward, 27 Sep 2013 @ 1:43pm

it sounds like this guy sucks at gta in real life
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Anonymous Coward, 27 Sep 2013 @ 5:37pm

Yes, and before vid games it was rock n roll
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nasch (profile), 30 Sep 2013 @ 8:00am

Unfortunate?
One thing I have never considered... is that there are actually a great many people in this world that enjoy watching the news and don't think it's anything more than a dolled-up theater of false controversy. But, unfortunately, such people exist.

You think it's unfortunate that people recognize what (most) TV news is, or that they enjoy watching it?
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