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British Couple Drive-By Splashing Kids

Views: 300k+ in most popular repost, estimated 1,000,000 total

Posted: October 2009

Genre: Crime

Creator: Alec Goff (filming, commentary) Kerry Callard (driving)

Background

Kerry Callard and her boyfriend Alec Goff were apparently asked by a group of kids to drive their car through a massive puddle and splash them. They recorded themselves doing it and posted it to Facebook. Thanks to Goff’s hysterical British commentary, the video was picked up by some creators such as Philip DeFranco (though I can’t find that original video). It was one of those videos that enjoyed a few days of virility. It received a lot more attention, including by more major news networks, apparently because doing this is illegal.

Callard ended up turning herself in to police. It sucks that this video still must haunt Ms. Callard, because I’ve always considered it to be a timeless classic and perhaps the progenitor of the “splashing” micro-genre. The reaction to it is a notable early example of “outrage culture.”

Creator Overview

The couple who made this video are private citizens and obviously not seeking extra attention so I don’t really care to find random background information on them. They were listed as being in their late 20s when this video was first published 11 years ago. The relationship, sadly, didn’t seem to last.

The Video

The 24-second video begins at the end of Weston Mill Hill in Plymouth, Devon. This is in England. The narrator, though only 29, sounds significantly older. He wastes no time in his introduction: “and here we go, ready to drench the kids.”

The car gains speed as the tension builds.

“Kids at the bottom of the hill…”

“Puddle at the bottom of the hill…”

“Come on, come on…”

The bus stop is in sight.

*car horn starts blaring*

“Yeaaaaaa-oh-yeaaaaaaahh”

*car sends tidal wave onto the pedestrians at the bus stop*

You can kind of feel the car start to hydroplane as it veers into an incredibly deep puddle. As it begins to crest another hill, the commentator–ecstatic–exclaims “That was brilliant–awesome!” as the female driver begins laughing.

It all happens very fast, but what always bothered me about the reaction to this video is that I never doubted for one moment that the kids asked to be soaked. Just hearing the genuine giddiness in Mr. Goff’s voice through the entire video, this never sounds like something nefarious. Why would it have been labeled the “happy splasher” otherwise?

From the most detailed news report:

“They were having fun in the bad weather,” she said.

“The fun factor is mostly gone from life these days but they were playing in puddles, like kids always have done.

“If the kids weren’t saying, ‘Splash me, splash me,’ I certainly wouldn’t have done it.

She said the children were standing by the puddle waiting to be splashed, and she did not think that they were even waiting for a bus.

After the Video

Unfortunately, there was nothing reported on this story after Ms. Callard turned herself in. There’s no record of charges or the kids making statements or anything of the like. In retrospect, I’d think the Sherlock Holmes detective in town should have just tracked down one of the kids and asked if they asked to be splashed and were actually waiting for a bus. Seems like a pretty open and shut case to me. Though often overlooked, the video lives on as one of the earliest and most epic angles of a “splashing” ever captured.