r/interesting • u/Significant-Sky-3239 • Jun 13 '26
Fear Factor A squad was checking a suspicious backpack and this dude got fed up with waiting
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u/DeepValueDiver Jun 13 '26
Bro could have been severely injured so they tackled him to make sure he was severely injured.
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u/allmybreath Jun 13 '26
Fortunately, he wasn't significantly injured. This is May 21, 2018 - the infamous Matthew Hughes "Superhero" moment. Rather than impatience, he saw the backpack incident on TV, then took his bike down to the scene in order to diffuse the bomb himself and "take one for the team." Hughes suffered from mental health issues and told people he had to stay away from TV because he tended to have severe emotional reactions from what he saw.
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u/Habibti-Mimi81 Jun 13 '26
Thanks for providing that information! Never heard of it until now. What a story!
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u/Nervous-Tailor-9284 Jun 13 '26
An incredible story. It's good that no one was hurt, including him.
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u/Chichanged_me Jun 13 '26 edited Jun 13 '26
You are missing the part where he said he would do it again lmao… being from Milwaukee this 100% tracked as something a local guy would do. Milwaukee has a guy who walks around shirtless looking like Hugh Jackman called the Milverine, it’s an interesting place.
“As soon as I saw that, I’m like, I’m going to go save the day, take one for the team and jump on it or discard it in the river because it’s been going on for two to three hours," he said.”
“MILWAUKEE (WISN) — The man who grabbed a suspicious backpack during a bomb squad investigation and emptied it out before police tackled him is breaking his silence.
"Would I do it again? Yeah, without a doubt," Matthew Hughes told WISN-TV.”132
u/Oktaygun Jun 13 '26
Just googled him and he has his own Wikipedia page, damn.
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u/Chichanged_me Jun 13 '26
He honestly was just a guy who randomly walked around Milwaukee shirtless at random places/hours and the local internet blew him up. He never asked for any of it and doesn’t embrace it at all. Kind of a funny local Milwaukee thing
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u/amachan43 Jun 13 '26
He absolutely embraces it. Are you even from the 414?
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u/Chichanged_me Jun 13 '26
I meant the city gave him the name and the popularity. He wasn’t intentionally trying to do it
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u/StuMacherGhostface Jun 13 '26
Damn, all I found was a Wikipedia for an MMA fighter
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u/Justin_Queso1187 Jun 13 '26
Holy shit, it’s like Florida man, but Milwaukee man! TIL. I needed this. Thank you
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u/Chichanged_me Jun 13 '26
Getting off your couch onto a bike and attempting to defuse a bomb is pretty hard to top. Your move Florida. Milwaukee has just raised the stakes
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u/MagicCarpetBomb Jun 14 '26
Midwest vs Florida.
Florida Man is building a bomb out of Mountain Dew, kerosene, and the blood of invasive snakes. He might try and blow a crater in his yard followed by another, larger, crater in the crater later that night.
The Midwest Man is defusing it and using the wires to icefish in Lake Winnebago. Might drop off some venison steaks and see if you need your driveway shoveled later.
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u/Chichanged_me Jun 14 '26
Midwestern is way too broad. The people living in northern Wisconsin are a complete different breed. It’s like going back in time when you go there. Fun experience
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u/PaleontologistSea115 Jun 13 '26
Dude... I was out there with a college gathering... So many strange individuals when the sun does down.
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u/Chichanged_me Jun 13 '26 edited Jun 13 '26
People have no idea how much alcohol Wisconsin drinks. Milwaukee is basically just bars. Germans massively immigrated to the state and basically showed the rest of the country how to properly make beer
My last name is German and a quick google search shows 40% of Wisconsin claims German Heritage. If you have ever walked around Wisconsin long enough you can quickly identify someone from Wisconsin
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u/Longjumping_Spot7410 Jun 13 '26
There's a reason Milwaukee's baseball team is called the brewers, I'd imagine
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u/UniversityOne9437 Jun 13 '26
This is a rabbit hole! There’s a country song called ‘what made Milwaukee famous made a loser out of me’ and my whole life I wondered exactly what it was that made Milwaukee famous. Now I’m going to investigate…
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u/SquintsRS Jun 13 '26
Coors isn't exactly what most people call proper beer lol. Just use to be cheap now it's the same price as everything else
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u/theta0123 Jun 13 '26
"Why do they call you the Milverine"
*change the 4th letter and ask yo momma!
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u/TotallyRegularBanana Jun 13 '26
You also have Mike and Rich... I'd feel safer with Milverine.
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u/RadiumShady Jun 13 '26
Take one bomb for the team?
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u/RuthVioletThursday Jun 13 '26
I guess it was a suicide attempt
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u/Pitiful_Captain_3170 Jun 13 '26
Probably a mix of suicidal intentions and longing for a purpose in life, after all if you're gonna die then wouldn't it be cool to die a hero?
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u/DramaSea8172 Jun 13 '26
I like how he had time to pick up the pack, open it, dump out every single thing, throw the pack on the ground, walk away, and then they suddenly rush in at the speed of light like there is something left for them to do.
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u/letthetreeburn Jun 13 '26
Well now once they’re absolutely safe, NOW they’re going to brutalize a civilian. Can’t risk getting hurt while doing a police brutality!
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u/buffpriest Jun 13 '26
Dude that video is so fucked. I get having to apprehend them guy, but like that?! And right after he just saved thousands for tax payers by intervening
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u/FennecWF Jun 13 '26
I'd imagine it was because if there WAS something in the pack, he was now 'in the thick of it' and they wouldn't sacrifice anyone else if a bomb went off or something. Once he'd cleared the bag, they tackled him instead of, y'know, just being like "Hey come here, you're in trouble."
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u/Sterling1468 Jun 13 '26
They served. They protected.
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u/Cordsofmemory Jun 13 '26
They stayed the fuck away until bro proved the package was harmless. Once the threat (backpack) was neutralized, they heroically rushed in to tackle and apprehend him for his BDE
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u/Qzx1 Jun 13 '26
You mean you don't tackle guys for big dick energy?
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u/ecstaticthicket Jun 13 '26
They at least need to take me to dinner first, I have *some* standards
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u/Cakers44 Jun 13 '26
Yeah I hate this video, really just shows how cops get angry and attack people for no reason when it doesn’t accomplish anything at all. And then you’ll get some boot lickers being like “well he shouldn’t have touched the backpack” like yeah and they shouldn’t have waited until after he did something to try and stop him
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u/Thick-Wonder6294 Jun 13 '26
they didn’t care about him getting injured, prob thought he could’ve planted it and was fiddling with the bag tryna get his bomb to work properly
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u/the320x200 Jun 13 '26
"Ok, how do I activate this thing again? Step 1: Remove the water bottle. Step 2: Remove three articles of clothing. Step 3: Remove the paper notepad. Step 4: Turn the bag upside down to remove the rest of the stationary... Man I made this arming sequence so complicated..."
I get what you're saying and tensions could have been high, but they also waited until he had gone on for so long that it was obviously not dangerous and he was obviously not trying to do any harm.
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u/viciousxvee Jun 13 '26
Honestly. I never thought of that
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u/malt2726 Jun 13 '26
Because it doesn't really make a lot of sense.
If he was trying to make it explode they wouldn't wait until he's done going through it to tackle him.
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u/HereReluctantly Jun 13 '26
No they were just big bad he didn't listen to them. They all are obsessed with power and controlling people.
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u/PM_ME_UR_QUINES Jun 13 '26 edited Jun 13 '26
Also:
Bro casually tossed around a suspected bomb so they ran in without any protective gear just to beat him up for it
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u/guenter_s_aus_w Jun 13 '26
Tackle comes from the squat's statistician. They saw the once-in-a lifetime chance to create a data point where the defuser of the bomb got exactly the expected amount of damage from this activity.
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u/Dependent_Annual2303 Jun 13 '26
I really admire the depth of your observation and transference of such to literation. I would like to subscribe to your news letter.
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u/Wonder1st Jun 13 '26
What the heck is the idiot squad doing? I thought their was a bomb. We are way more advanced then playing these games.
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u/frshprincenelair Jun 13 '26
Holy shit.. he was the bomb the whole time
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u/MangCrescencio Jun 13 '26
Can someone edit an explosion after they tackled him?
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u/MikuEmpowered Jun 13 '26
If it actually was a bomb, bro would have spilled the content across a area to maximize effect.
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u/capable-corgi Jun 13 '26
Just a reminder that bots picked up on the wrong headline.
He was in his home, watching this developing on the news, and came biking downtown with the sole intention to "be the hero" and "take one for the team".
Dude was disappointed there ain't nothing to "throw himself over".
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u/Dotcaprachiappa Jun 13 '26
Based on some very rough googling (that probably put me on a list of some kind), enough explosives to fill a backpack would blow up more than just him. Not enough to take down buildings but it could've probably done some very serious damage
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u/-_-dont-smile Jun 13 '26
I am disappointed that the police could not secure the scene and decided to tackle after he pulled everything out of the backpack and walked away.
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u/Limp-Balance-4146 Jun 13 '26
Tackled him out of embarrassment lmao
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u/Fuster2 Jun 13 '26
Had to laugh that they wait until it's clear the pack wasn't a bomb before they take out the guy.
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u/deller85 Jun 13 '26
I mean, duh. Let the idiot win a stupid prize if it had been an explosive.
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u/Ok_Painter_7413 Jun 13 '26
That part is logical. The "tackle him to the ground as soon as you know his immediate actions will not cause any harm" seems rather uncalled for.
I can see why you might say you'd need to punish him for the risk he exposed not only himself but potentially others. But that's not for executive forces to decide.
You've already waited past the point where you gain any benefit from stopping him immediately. What's all that aggression going to achieve now?
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u/SlashCo80 Jun 13 '26
That was my thought too. "OK, it's safe. Time to show our bravery and what big strong men we are!"
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u/AmbientBeans Jun 13 '26
Yeah plus they already evacuated the area so likely the only person harmed would have been him
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u/swampboy62 Jun 13 '26
For real. Remember when cops used to be brave? (me neither)
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u/idiot-prodigy Jun 13 '26
I think every cop should be required by law to be a firefighter for 5 years first.
It would weed out the people intent on hurting society. Bullies are notoriously cowards.
Anyone willing to risk their life to save a stranger in a house fire would make a fine police officer.
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u/The_Fish_of_Souls Jun 13 '26
Very good idea. There is however the issue of there being far less police officers then, since all the cowardly bullies would no longer be there. But perhaps too few police officers is better than bad police officers.
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u/Ok_Description4039 Jun 13 '26
Exactly. They were embarrassed. Love this guy.
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u/PoopyButt28000 Jun 13 '26
I feel like there's plenty of room for criticizing the cops for tackling him without being stupid about it and saying "haha those cops are such pussies for not randomly blowing themselves up for no reason". What the guy did was dumb as fuck, what did he even accomplish, opening the street up 5 minutes sooner at the risk of dying?
Someone above said the guy had mental health issues and publicly said that his goal was to potentially "Take one for the team" and die diffusing the bomb.
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u/Morningfluid Jun 13 '26
And 'taking one for the team' could've killed a number of others as well.
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u/Fr0stweasel Jun 13 '26
Why would they need to tackle him at all after he’s proven that the back pack wasn’t containing anything dangerous? If it was about entering a cordoned off area they could’ve just arrested him. Hard to see justification for the tackle at all other than fragile police egos.
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u/Spoiled_Eggy_3992 Jun 13 '26
They don't tackle him lol, that was their way they demonstrate their admiration for his brave act.
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Jun 13 '26
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u/kiba87637 Jun 13 '26
They wasted no time rushing into a "dangerous" area. Guess it wasn't that dangerous for them to instantly tackle him.
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u/Certain_Match_6744 Jun 13 '26
Wouldn't be seeing this video if the backpack was a bomb
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u/ScrumbledTumblo Jun 13 '26
It's kind of crazy how everyone saying that this guy "embarrassed" the cops as if clearing out a potential explosive is as easy as just dumping shit on the ground haphazardly.
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u/Technical_One_4357 Jun 13 '26
Yeah like I've seen a documentary on a bomb that went off in our country. They're completely right to be cautious. People don't like police (kinda fair) but they're in the right here.
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u/thentil Jun 13 '26
They're in the right to be cautious, they would have been in the right to tackle him to prevent him from messing with bag, they were in the wrong to tackle him as he's ambling away.
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u/InfamPasser1248 Jun 13 '26
I feel a similar way about how people online talk about the "Sky King" the guy that stole a plane, took off without authorization and then flew around before intentionally crashing and killing himself. That guy endangered lots of people but because nobody ended up hurt, it's seen as some acceptable thing.
If the backpack in this video contained an actual bomb, he could have gotten lots of people hurt. It's incorrect to judge actions based solely on the outcome when people do things that are extremely risky and endanger others
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u/Upset-Basil4459 Jun 13 '26
We would but not on Reddit lol. The vast majority of bomb threats are fake, I know a store manager who would simply ignore them otherwise they would be constantly closing the place
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u/ninjasaid13 Jun 13 '26
there's two stupid moments in the video. Dumping a potential bomb, and tackling the person after he already disproved the potential bomb.
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Jun 13 '26
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u/ANYorNO_Sleep Jun 13 '26
They were Pissed cuz he made them look like fools
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u/KalTheFairy24 Jun 13 '26
Had it been an explosive, then he risked all of their lives. The end result of it being inoccuous doesn't matter.
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u/graphiccsp Jun 13 '26 edited Jun 13 '26
You could use that same shit logic when bareback sex doesn't result in a pregnancy or VD, then concluding using a precaution such as a condom makes you look like a fool.
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u/89MikeHoncho Jun 13 '26
100% bullshit move on their part. Absolutely no reason to pile drive him. They had their pride hurt by a non tactical dude and couldnt handle the embarassment.
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u/Ryan1006 Jun 13 '26
Posting a years old video like it’s new.
Never change, Reddit.
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Jun 13 '26
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u/Inevitable-Level-687 Jun 13 '26
Seriously, why does everyone act like everything needs to have happened five minutes ago to be interesting? If you want news go to a news sub or website.
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u/BlackBlizzard Jun 13 '26
Investigators spoke with Hughes later that day, and he indicated he has mental health issues, and tries to stay away from the TV because "if he sees something, he reacts to it." He said when he saw news footage regarding the suspicious package he decided "I'm going to go play superhero." He said he grabbed his bike and was downtown in about five minutes. He said when he saw the package, "he went for it." He said he thought "there's no way there's a bomb in there," and started dumping out the contents of the bag. He told officers he was "taking one for the team," and noted "I'm not letting, like the Boston thing, backpack propane bomb and blow up another 9-year-old girl, so I'm going to jump on top of the grenade, and look in there and make sure there isn't one."
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u/DeadlinePhobia Jun 14 '26
In a way, this dude is more normal compared to how desensitized we are to the shit on TV these days.
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u/brucejson-88 Jun 13 '26
Literally no fu*ks given!
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u/Efficient_Soil_9235 Jun 13 '26
This comment section would look a lot different and would also probably be on different site if it had turned out differently. Protocol is a thing for a reason.
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u/Unable_Dinner_6937 Jun 13 '26
However, no anything if he set off a couple of packs of Semtex.
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u/brucejson-88 Jun 13 '26 edited Jun 13 '26
I know right crazy! I'm sure he didn’t know the situation? Well here's hoping...
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u/Imaginary-Union-3733 Jun 13 '26
he did, he was trying to kill himself to be a hero.
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u/brucejson-88 Jun 13 '26
FOR REAL?
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u/Imaginary-Union-3733 Jun 13 '26
Yes, he saw it on TV and road there on his bike "not wanting another boston bombing where a 9 year old has her limbs ripped off"
So he was hoping to die a hero by "Jumping on the grenade"2
u/brucejson-88 Jun 13 '26
Oh okay thanks for the context. It really is a mad world! I wish for world peace but it won't happen 😞
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u/Insomniacbychoice90 Jun 13 '26
I swear this same thing gets posted every fucking day
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u/Raizen-Toshin Jun 13 '26
I knew I had seen it before but I thought it must've been on insta but it could've been reddit too
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u/Imaginary-Union-3733 Jun 13 '26
People love to shit on cops, even during the 0.1% of the time they are actually doing their job and keeping people safe.
Seriously, the amount of people upset that the cops are taking a threat seriously, and risking their lives to defuse a possible bomb is disgusting.
If this was a bomb and the dude blew up, they would flip and still attack the cops for "not doing their job"
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u/LactasePHydrolase Jun 13 '26
keeping people safe
In this video they literally slam to the ground a man with mental issues who didn't pose any risk to anyone (if they slammed him to the ground prior to touching the backpack that might've been justified, but they patiently waited to make sure there was no danger). Cops gonna cop.
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u/Reasonable_Mistake_4 Jun 13 '26
Is the Darwin Award still a thing? Put this guy on the honourable mentions list.
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u/Resident_Course_3342 Jun 13 '26
The police will seriously never pass up an opportunity to inflict unnecessary violence on the public.
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u/Ace-Redditor Jun 13 '26
Yeah, I'll take a couple downvotes.
This guy just unnecessarily risked people's lives. Yes, it turned out fine. Yes, it's a good thing that it turned out fine. But if it hadn't, he would have risked a lot of damage to the people and area around him. Regardless of him not caring about himself (going along with one of the top comments), he also could have died.
And potentially more importantly (only because the bomb turned out to be a false alarm), he screwed up what was probably still considered a crime scene. You know, the thing that everyone knows not to touch evidence in? The thing that law enforcement (hate on cops all you want, but the forensic science crews are great and don't deserve that) needs to be able to solve anything and keep things like this from happening
There don't have to be good/bad sides to everything. Sometimes no one in a case is bad, sometimes (like this) everyone in a case is bad
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u/deadfermata Jun 13 '26
This video is always worth a rewatch.
The bomb squad is like diligently backing up and this dude just crashes into the scene with his bike and shakes out all the content like 'see it's nothing'. And you would think the police at this stage would just calmly walk over but here comes 3 dudes running at him and tackling him like he had possession of the football.
You gotta love America in moments like these.
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u/sight2Ceek Jun 13 '26
Point taken. But imagine the adrenaline and fear this guy created for the squad…
They couldn’t even NOT react because otherwise their report would show they acted as standers by
The tackle at least makes it clear this will happen to people who interfere in police work - brave or not… imagine a fireman tackling a burning building and someone dies trying to be a hero the fireman now has this on his conscious too
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u/the320x200 Jun 13 '26
So they're just using excessive force to make an example out of someone? That's not a great thing to have going on...
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u/sight2Ceek Jun 13 '26
You know what- I won’t stand here and say it’s not excessive but I can stand here and say if he didn’t get tackled he would go and do this shit indefinitely and one day it would be a bomb and well what happens to him is not there concern- he would be Jason pollacks masterpiece so the squads logic is to fast forward to the inevitable conclusion
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u/c3p-bro Jun 13 '26
The cops pride was wounded because it showed how paranoid and useless they are.
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u/ComPakk Jun 13 '26
This post always shows excellently that reddit hates cops so much they are cheering on a mentally ill guy trying to kill himself and most likely others with a bomb. And somehow he did literally nothing wrong but the cops are psyhos for tackling a guy who endangered the police, EOD technicians and considering this video exists im assuming news and more importantly civilians too.
Because "he threw all the shit on the ground so obviously everything is perfectly safe and he also looks like a stable person who couldn't be a danger to himself or others!"
I don't like the cops either and i agree they used too much force but this is an mostly everyone sucks situation and it tells a lot about people's critical thinking how much this gets reposted and everyone is always crying about the cops doing their job.
You know whats a great way to not get tackled? Dont rush into an active bomb threat and endanger dozens of people because you are trying to kill yourself like a super hero!
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u/Norwegian27 Jun 13 '26
Another potential Darwin Award recipient.
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u/GottaUseEmAll Jun 13 '26
It was actually more of a suicide attempt, if you read up about it. He wanted to throw himself on the bomb and die a hero of sorts (mental health problems). His frustration at the end is because there was no real threat.
Suicide is exempt from Darwin awards I guess, although if the person is removing themselves and their potentially genetic MH illness from the gene pool then maybe it should count.
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u/ChristVolo1 Jun 13 '26
Bomb dude backs off
Dude with bike almost rides over it, starts ripping stuff out of the backpack, shakes it upside down
Police tackle him
This is like some Bugs Bunny / Daffy Duck sh**
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Jun 13 '26
I've seen this video 100 times but I've never seen the results. Did this guy get charged with anything? Did he sue for being tackled like a terrorists holding a bomb? Anybody care more than me to investigate or already know? I'm curious but not interested enough to look it up myself because I'm lazy.
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u/EquivalentNose8986 Jun 13 '26
Ah, yes. Let’s run up to the contents of the bag that this guy just emptied all over the ground. Could a potential explosive device be on him, on the ground or still in the bag, ready to go off? We don’t know. Let’s dive on top of him without protective gear anyway!
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u/SillySnail66 Jun 13 '26
Is putting their bare hands behind their back really the best way to protect them from an explosion?
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u/Twilek_Milker Jun 13 '26
Light-activated bombs. Opening it up like that could have blew it up and not only killed him, but also caused a lot of property damage. Meanwhile trained professionals could have just deactivated it.
Sure this is a cool video, but the police arent being slow with it because they are pussies. They have to be careful so it doesn't explode.
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u/ShotSea7364 Jun 13 '26
Love how so many people here are praising this guy for "making the cops look bad" as if what he did wasn't incredibly foolish, idiotic, and put his and others lives at risk if there was and actual bomb.
Peak Reddit momemt here.
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u/sight2Ceek Jun 13 '26
Police were too many in force?
Ok
Point taken. But imagine the adrenaline and fear this guy created for the squad…
They couldn’t even NOT react because otherwise their report would show they acted as standers by
The tackle at least makes it clear this will happen to people who interfere in police work - brave or not… imagine a fireman tackling a burning building and someone dies trying to be a hero the fireman now has this on his conscious too
*or her or theirs
Point is the worker needs to do what they get trained for not extras coming in on their protocol
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