A ruthless rubbernecker who filmed the aftermath of a deadly Ohio auto crash -- calling the victims names while refusing to aid them -- has been arrested this week for his callous crime.
Paul Pelton, 41, was charged yesterday with vehicular trespass, days after the creep stood by shooting cellphone video of an injured teen motorist and his dying passenger, then attempted to sell the gruesome footage to news agencies via his Facebook account.
Filming the traffic incident, regrettably, was not an offense police found they could charge the heartless perpetrator with, though. And, in fact, the fourth-degree misdemeanor Pelton does face won’t keep him in jail for very long once convicted.
It carries a maximum sentence of only 30 days and a $250 fine.
But “we searched to try to find anything to charge him with,” a police spokesman explained, adding that it is unfortunately “not a crime to stick a camera where a kid is dying or try to sell it.”
The single-vehicle accident involved two youths, one of whom died in the emergency room and the other whose condition is not yet known.
The driver of the vehicle lost control while inexpertly negotiating railroad tracks, sending the car careening into a nearby house.
Others at the scene, who tried to provide assistance before first responders arrived, reported that Paul Pelton pried opened the car’s back door merely so he could lean in to get a better shot.
The suspect then also took a moment to cruelly taunt the injured occupants, telling the semiconscious boys that they were both “idiots.” But at no point did he even lift one finger to help them.
