A Waymo in California allegedly called the cops on two teenagers for “drinking and shooting from the vehicle,” according to local police.
On Monday, the San Mateo Police Department posted on Facebook: “Parents do you know where your teens are? @waymo does!”
The police department continued in the post: “Two 15 year olds up to trouble in a Waymo this afternoon were detained after Waymo reported they were drinking and shooting from the vehicle. After calling us and stopping the car, we were able to safely remove both subjects and determined they were shooting Orbeez from the car as they sipped on afternoon libations while being chauffeured around town in the driverless vehicle.”
In a video posted by the police, several officers approached the Waymo vehicle with guns drawn.
Orbeez are polymer beads that expand and become squishy when wet. The police department’s Facebook post doesn’t clarify what the teens were “shooting” from, but implied that they were using toy guns, water guns, or BB guns. A photo on the post shows a painted-over SplatRBall toy gun, which shoots water beads. The police also posted a photo of two Powerade bottles full of orange water beads.
“Shooting projectiles at speed can cause real damage. And lest not[sic] forget the underage drinking. All bad ideas today for these two. Well, the Waymo might have been the smartest idea yet, because driving impaired would’ve made this so much worse,” San Mateo police wrote.
Waymo, which is owned by Google, says on a support page that its support team “may review video under certain circumstances, including after an issue is brought to our attention,” and “in more urgent circumstances, Support may access live video during a trip.”
Waymo did not immediately respond to 404 Media’s request for comment.
