When Paul Pelton saw the scene of a fatal car crash this week, he didn't try to help the victims, who were both teenagers. Rather, according to police, Pelton started filming the scene on his cellphone.
"A 41-year-old Lorain man who entered a car to record the aftermath of a fatal Monday morning car crash made no attempt to assist or contact police for help, police said. Paul Pelton was arrested Wednesday and charged with vehicular trespassing, a misdemeanor," a police report cited by The Northeast Ohio Media Group reads.
The Honda, occupied by two 17-year-old teens, flew over a railroad crossing and crashed into a house on Monday. Pelton filmed the aftermath on his cellphone's camera.
The crash happened in Lorain, Ohio, which is about 30 miles from Cleveland.
While bystanders rushed to the scene in an attempt to assist the teens, Pelton didn't offer any assistance and continued to film the incident, according to The Washington Post. A video that was posted on Facebook, and has since been removed, shows that he called the trapped boys "idiots."
The passenger, Cameron Friend, was taken to the MetroHealth Medical Center in Clevland, where he later died. The fate of the driver, Zachary Gooden, is still unknown.
Media later caught up with Pelton, who said, "I apologize to the family, that's all I have to say. It's a very unfortunate situation, it put a lot of people at risk."
He claims that he filmed the crash to warn other drivers of the dangers of jumping the tracks near his home, rather than for profit.
However, authorities state otherwise, saying that he attempted to sell the video to at least two news stations, including Fox 8 News, who declined, Fox's Cleveland affiliate WJW reported.
Much to the chagrin of Lorain Police Detective Buddy Sivert, officers searched for anything to charge Pelton, but to no avail, according to Reuters.
"We searched to try to find anything to charge him with," Sivert said, noting that Pelton was only charged for entering a crime scene, but not for filming what was unfolding there, nor for trying to peddle the footage to news organizations. "It is not a crime to stick a camera where a kid is dying or try to sell it."
The Lorain Police Department defined Pelton's questionable act as "an attempt to make a profit from 'a young man's dying moments.'"
