A disturbingly opportunistic Ohio man has been arrested after attempting to sell footage of a fatal car crash to local news outlets. 41-year-old Paul Pelton ignored the two severely injured teens involved in the accident, opting instead to intrusively document the crash sight with the intention of later turning a profit. While filming the victims, Pelton reportedly entered the vehicle while mockingly calling the them "idiots." The car's 17-year-old passenger died shortly after the crash, according to Mashable.
Naturally, the disturbing incident is drawing parallels to the 2014 Jake Gyllenhaal film Nightcrawler — in which Gyllenhaal portrays Louis Bloom, a thief with a penchant for filming (sometimes active) crime scenes and then selling the gruesome footage to (spineless) news outlets. In the film, the stakes are continuously raised during Bloom's deeper and deeper dive into the murky underworld of captured suffering.
Pelton was ultimately charged with vehicular trespassing. If convicted, he could serve a month in prison in addition to paying a seemingly disproportionate $250 fine.
