If you thought Jeep owners were crazy in America, as it turns out, they’re also crazy in the land down under. Just yesterday, a 32-year-old man initiated an hours-long standoff with police. The chase had lasted so long and became so intense, there were multiple units, a K9 squad, police on the water, and a helicopter chasing him in his bright red early 2000s Jeep Wrangler.
The Wrangler owner drove his Jeep onto a jetty on the river in Claremont, a town just outside of Perth. Police hovered over him in the helicopter, units in cruisers blocked him from reversing off the jetty, and officers in a boat tried negotiating with him at the end of the jetty.
Cathy Greatrex, a witness by the water, said she couldn’t look away.
“He was revving the car lots, shouting out at the police, I didn’t know what he was going to do,” she told 9News. “Pretty scary, really.”
The Wrangler driver decided it was time to act
After an hour, the Wrangler driver decided he’d had enough talking. He reversed the Jeep to the end of the jetty and floored the SUV—deliberately aiming for the police boat. Instead of hitting the police boat, the Jeep ended up nose-first into the river.
The Wrangler sank quickly, and the driver climbed up onto the bumper. Police spoke with him a while longer before the man tried to swim away. Officers pulled him from the water and took him to a nearby hospital for assessment.
The reason for the chase wasn’t specified, but police confirmed he wasn’t injured and charges are being assessed.
Viewers saw the opportunity to make a joke
Viewers of Inside Edition’s coverage of the story saw a chance to make fun of the “Duck, Duck, Jeep” cult.
“It would have floated if his dash was full of rubber ducks,” they wrote.
Someone else wrote that the story doesn’t seem like it’s from Australia.
“The fact that this isn’t Florida is actually shocking,” their comment read.
Another wrote that the driver must have forgotten he wasn’t in a video game.
“Those are the kinds of crazy stunts you do in Grand Theft Auto, not in real life!” they wrote.
