By Brett Gillin
Blood was splattered on the hood of a car while two men feverishly tried to wash it off. Then, they stuffed a body into the trunk, wrapped in garbage bags. That was the scene that passing motorists witnessed in Hazleton, PA last week when they phoned the police. As you’d expect, police rushed to the scene, only to find out that it was an elaborate prank. Police were far from amused, but the men seemed undeterred and vowed to do it all over again.
The two men, Shayne Balliet and Cody Chippi, came up with the idea for the prank. Their plan was to perform the act, then catch it all on video and post it to YouTube, probably with hopes of becoming internet superstars. Now, they’re becoming “internet famous” for totally different reasons.
The two men painted the front of their white sedan with bright red blood, to simulate an accident of some kind. Then, the drove the car through crowded streets to a local car wash. The two men went about their prank, washing the fake blood off the car in the freezing cold, then removed a fake body, wrapped tightly in garbage bags with legs dangling out, and stuffed it into their trunk. They did not expect what happened next.
Several passing motorists saw the grisly prank and phoned police, telling them they thought they were witnessing some sort of homicide in progress. Police immediately dispatched several officers to the scene, who were all expecting to arrive to a crime scene.
“I get a call that someone’s pulling a body out of the trunk of a car, there’s blood all over a car and they’re washing it off. So we’re coming down here 100 mph in icy conditions because you two are being goofballs,” a responding officer told the men in the video obtained by WNEP.com.
That’s probably about the time that the two men realized their prank wasn’t going to be seen as amusing to the men and women charged with protecting their city. “We didn’t think it through. We went a little bit too far,” Balliet told reporters.
“When we get a call, especially of a possible homicide, abduction, dead body, attempted homicide, all of our brothers and sisters in arms are racing to our aid,” Hazleton Police Chief Frank DeAndrea told reporters. “To find out that someone thought this was going to be funny, it’s far from funny.”
The two men face citations on disorderly conduct charges, but that doesn’t seem to be enough to stop them from pulling a similar prank in the near future. Thankfully, according to WNEP, they’ve at least learned one lesson. The next time they pull the prank, they plan on giving police a “heads-up” to let them know what they’ll be doing.
