It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s the PCP Superspy

it has the best drug nickname ever angel dust. It means that not just the best drug ever, Like I want to do angel dust. When I was a kid, I was like, I want to do angel dusk. Mommy. It sounds like something that you'd sprinkle on a Hallmark Precious Moments figuring and it comes with angel dust with Angel Christmas display exactly, and then you just do a line of it, rail it up. Do you remember hearing about PCP when we were children. Yeah, it was like

often mentioned drug. I mean, like nothing like it is now, like it actually was one of the top five drugs kids. Did totally remember the stories or anything like that. Oh, yeah, there are always stories about people having like superhuman strength, like running through brick walls or something, and like before crack, it was the drug of like the like urban superhero. Yeah. Well, my brother used to have this thing. Anytime he'd see a trampoline, he'd jump on it and like fall flat

back and then pop back up. And he called himself PCP man. And but the thing is is what I found with DARE and all those sort of things. Um, some of the ways that they educated you made things sound kind of appealing. Oh yeah, it was terrible as

a reverse advertising. I want to do that. Yeah. And so they would talk about PCP and like someone like me, uh would get terrified, Like if I did that, then I would I would think I could jump off a building, and but then other people would be like I could jump off a built, you know, like you see these it's very it's very alluring. Yeah, if I ever wanted to raise a car in the freeway traffic, I could

do it on PCP. Totally. We had a we had a teacher like in fourth grade during DARE who every week would tell us about a different kind of drug and they were always just oh it's so bad. But then when we got to stimulants like cocaine that week with the handouts, he only told us the good things in his mind, like you can study for super long and it makes you feel just like up, and you

can do all this stuff. You can get all this work done, and do you mention Freud is like really important to the advancement and we're just like this sounds this kind of sounds kind of good. And so I remember I went home and I was like, Mom, you know, like, do you do coke? She's just like wait, I'm sorry what and that she like rubs it and I'm just

kidding um, And so I explained. I was like, well, apparently like you can like study for hours and get all this stuff done and she's like mmmm, well no, not really and she's trying to like gently explain to her whatever. I was eight year old nine year old daughter. And then the teacher we had a substitute after that for the rest of the school year. It was like towards the end of the year, apparently some other kids went home and rat it out the teacher and they

got more than one call to the school. Yeah, no, don't tell them that this is the best thing for overachiever kids before, after all, there was a cocaine from Dare exactly, or like when you're in Dare and they make you like, this is what it looks like. This is what marijuana looks like. There's always a kid in class who's like the clown who smells it and goes daddy. Remember the briefcase that put the clear I was like, no,

that's not what that looks like. I'd like calculate late the street value if that suitcase I could, I could turn that around. This is Ridiculous Crime a podcast about absurd and outrageous capers, heights and cons. It's always murder free and ridiculous. Al Right, we all know. Rick James famously said cocaine is a hell of a drug. Now, PCP is a way crazy or hell of a drug, especially you know, in the hands of somebody who doesn't know that they are going to be on PCP, Like

if they're dusted, they got angel dusted. But did you ever learn anything about the science of it, like anything, Like did ever tell you like why PCP is what it is. It's one of the rare drugs that you don't really hear at least I didn't hear about this Like you hear about cocaine, know how it works. I hear about the amphetamines, how they work, how hot, how

it works. I never heard about how PCP works. We were told that it comes from when two Hallmark Precious Moments figurines love each other so much, so much, and then what comes out is angels for all the children Catholic schools. So I've had to look it up, and PCP is derived from a compound called one fennel cyclohexel pypyridine. You say so, yes, one fennel cycle hexel pypyridine, and

that compound is derived from eral cycle hexel amine. Pypyridine does sound like really good red hot chili Pepper's lyrics. I'm gonna tell a key is next time I get a card from him, I'll just hey, I got some lyrics for you, bro. So, ketamine is a real close cousin of PCP. It's our aural cyclohexel and me derivative just like PCP. Now, both drugs were originally used as large animal tranquilizers for horses, pigs, and elephants, which I

didn't know. Now. This is also why the two drugs behave so similarly in humans, they basically produced the soleucinogenic you four quality at a certain amount. If you get above that, you get into an aesthetic amount, and then you can get into an aesthetic amount to actually removes consciousness all of these options right exactly. So what happens is that basically there's the that response, but then there's

another response in the body that is entirely separate. That is basically where you get that superhero quality, and that's the analgesic, which means you can't feel pain. That also gives you this psychotic ideation. So you can't feel pain, and you're like, what if I can fly? Though? Exactly? What if I can chase this truck? So, uh, you know, we have this moment, you know where PCP was really popular, and like, I don't think people understand like how popular.

I mean, in nineteen seventy nine, quote, twelve point eight percent of twelfth graders had used PCP, whereas in only three point nine percent had used this same drug. Now that's yeah, dare worked Apparently Apparently now that same numbers lessen one percent. So it's very difficult to find people who are still doing PCP, and partially is because pot got so good, So people are like, I don't need the hallucinogenic effects of a street drug if I can get it from smoking pot. So it kind of I

don't need to fight. I don't need to fight a freight train. I can just just mellow out. Also, there was the whole like you know, yeah, the psychotic ideation that was the real downside, whereas ketamine doesn't do that. You just fall into a k hole. So people have they spiral into themselves. They may have a bad trip, but they don't go out and try to like, you know,

lift the house up and throw it at somebody. So the one last thing about PCP before we get into the story that I want you to understand is PCP once you ingest it, it acts really strangely in the body because it can last for seven hours or for seven days or seven years. You don't you don't know how long it's gonna last because it gets stored in the adipose tissue and like the fat of the body, it just sits in there and it gets released unevenly.

So depending on your metabolic processes, you can suddenly have a burst of it and then maybe it's two days after you actually did it, and now instead of just having acid flashbacks, you're having a full on PCP psychotic episode, like just in the middle of your So, so your little tummy is a flavor saver. Now. The high of PCP is also kind of crazy because it affects a

ton of aspects of the body all at once. So it affects the neo cortex, the hippocampus, the basil ganglia, and your Lympics system, which is in charge of like basically all your smooth muscle like you know, so breathing, digestion, like a bunch of things that are not voluntarily controlled involuntary muscle systems, right, So it means you can that's why people can like stop breathing. Uh and and basically from heroin is because it it is convinced the limbic

system to stop breathing. So PCP does the opposite. It causes you to have tachocardia, which is a rapid heartbeat. It causes you to have violent behavior. It causes your eyes to circle or to go backwards and forwards or up and down. Yeah, like a literal like rhythmic pattern. So like you can either spiral or you can go a skipping like your like your eyes are skipping like a TV between stations in the eighties. Yeah, and there's also hypertension for a high blood pressure. You get like

um the elf of the anal jess. You can't feel pain and China and your hearts just like, come on, man, from it now. At Also the other last thing about PCPs, it's one of the few drugs that will kill you. But it's not from the drug itself. It doesn't give you a heart attack. You don't overdose. You die from taking the drug and doing dumb stuff. It literally is the drug that causes you to die from, not an overdose. Can you overdose on pc You can, Yeah, you can

definitely can use. People lose ansciousness whereas if they're going to die, what happens is because you kept consciousness. I see. So now they call it the emergence reaction. When the PCP comes back up days later, and this can happen is like sometimes weeks later. Right, So keep that in mind as we dip into the story of Walter Scott. Now, have you ever seen a drug trip go bad? Yeah? Like how bad was it? We like people like all right,

you're from Davis. I went to you C Davis. Yes, and there's an event every year called Picnic Day and one year it fell on April. Yes, I think I know that you're talking about. And it was a dumpster fire, and uh yeah, there was there was a lot of ingestion of the marijuana products. And you wouldn't imagine that people would have bad I mean, like I've seen people lose it like on other things. But um, so one made a big batch of these brownies. And you know, I'll say at that time, I was like a total

I was totally like straight edge. I didn't drink, I didn't do any drugs, and I also owned a really badass Ford Bronco and so I became the de facto designated driver for everyone when they get too messed up. So I get this call from my roommates and like you got to help us. And someone was like hiding in a bush and wouldn't come out, and someone else was like lost, and someone else was in a tree, and I just wound up driving all over Davis, like

going to different locations and coaxing people out of areas casualties. Yeah, and then just like tending to everyone there at home, and it was you know, so I've seen that, but I mean, I suppose I've also seen like really terrifying ones. You know, people I've seen My friend Arthur did an acid trip and apparently got like a bubble of strychnine or whatever in his asset because he couldn't stop shaking. He was violently shaking and convulsive. It was so bad

we had to call an ambulance. But we're all on acid, so we decide we're gonna come up with the plants so none of us can be connected to him. So we put him like in this one room downstairs in the dorms, and then we all act like we stumbled upon him. So walking in, hey man, are you okay, trying to act like we don't know this guy's a bunch of people and asked it doing it a little yes, And then I remember the ambulance pulls it up. They back up, they take Arthur out, and he's still like

violently shaking and terrified. And then right when they got him on the gurney, right when they're wheeling him into the ambulance, the doors are still open to the ambulance. He pops up looks at us from the gurney. He goes yeah, and then falls back and the doors closed and he drives away. We're like, okay, Arthur, so that is nothing compared to what you're about to hear. Okay. Now, the day is August one. That day may sound familiar.

Do you know why that day sounds familiar? No, it's the day that MTV started broadcasting for the very first time, with the words ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll. MTV hit the air. Do you remember the first music video? Was the first music video video, Killed the Radio Star? All right, now, double down, double your jeopardy? Can you name the second music video? No? I would have never guessed the side to look it up. It was Pat benatars you Better Run. I don't even know what song

that is. I don't either. I just keep like when he you Better Run? Wasn't that like a there's some metal song and then there's a there's a swinging utters punk song line of never mind. I'm thinking of a lot of different versions. Have You Better Run? Iron Maiden's Run for the Hills? Yeah, maybe that's what I'm thinking of. So they have the you Better Run. We'll just call that even though neither one of us know the song that's our theme song for today. Okay, stepped on and

he's swinging other songs all day. Now, for this story of Walter Scott, I'm going to occasionally quote from the legal brief that analyzed the appeal case that resulted from the charges brought against Walter Scott, which you can find on law dot Justia dot com. I'll go over there right now. Okay, Now, to start off, quote, on the evening of August first, defendant Walter Scott, accompanied by his brother,

Charles Scott, attended a family reunion type party. The brother noticed a large punch bowl filled with red punch and saw the punch bowlder filled several times during the course of the party. He also observed the defendant drinking some of the punch. At some point in the evening, the supply of ice ran low, and the brother volunteered to go to the store to get more. When he left,

everyone including the defendant, appeared to be behaving normally. However, when he returned, the brother noticed that the behavior of the party guest had changed dramatically. Boom. So someone at this one family reunion backyard party, I thought it would be funny to spike the punch, Like what if I root my whole family? Like can you imagine being at

a party and going PCP as the answer? Like I used to think about that when, um, we would have faculty meetings when I was an English instructor at a college and no, I mean, they don't have these big things of sweet tea, and I'd wonder, like, well, it's a huge vat of it. What if someone just put a tiny little drop of acid in there? What would happen? Yea with acid, you need not a ton, but yeah,

I mean micro dosing an entire room of faculty. My friend wants to put magic mushrooms on my mushroom pizza. I was at his place. We're talking. He put I didn't know what he put like that tons I hate like two slices. Like forty five minutes later, I'm starting to get off and he's just starting to chuckle, and I put it together. I'm like you, muther, oh that I just screaming by myself in my friend's house. Sorry, Like I mean, I didn't. Mine was a thought exercise

in boredom in a faculty meeting. I would never do that. I just it really is terrifying to me to be like given a substance without my knowledge. Were you scared when you don't get scared? Like, fear isn't really the thing for me unless it's like a snake. Can you show me a snake. You'll see all kinds of fear you've never seen any human. But other than that, you give me like jugs. I don't know what's going on. I'm like, this will pass. You know, like it's not great.

I'm not digging it, but this will pass. I knew like it would be fine. I've taken plenty of psychedelics. At that point, I was a little not pissed, but I was like, Oh, I'm gonna get you back. Oh I am so going to get you back. So I poured five gawns of white painting inside of his truck. Well I even Stevens, Yeah, right, So then he climbed up on a roof and through five gowns of paint on top of me. So we kept that guy. I feel like this is still going back and forth to

this day. Yes, it kind of is. Anyway, getting back to our party with Walter Scott backyard family reunion right now, He's sitting there hanging out. The brother comes back to the party and he sees just chaos. Right. So, going from the legal documents quote, one man, pointing to the floor stated there was a dog in the room. He's not in the room, he's in the backyard. Several people

holding glasses of punch to their hands were vomiting. Another party guest, Eleanor Michelle Sutton, testifies in Walter Scott's a Pellet Case, and she says, quote after she arrived, she did not notice anything unusual. She did notice a punch bowl on a table and observed a woman refilling the

bowl with punch. Approximately fifteen or twenty minutes after the bull would refilled, Sutton observed that some of the people that were dancing were falling on the floor and if you were throwing up, you know, just you know the kind of She's like, I'm not going to have any of the drink, thank you. So Eleanor Sutton, she spots Walter Scott at this party, right, and she's like, what's

up with him? Now? From the appellate case quote, she noticed defendant whom she had never met before, with a cup of punch in his hand, talking about the Bible and stating that the world was coming to an end. That sounds like a fun family time. I mean, like I think I've been to this party. So she's like, this is not the party I thought I was coming to. And she's like, when can I leave? Now? The brother has just arrived back and he's like taking in this

same exact scene. So he's like, oh man, I gotta find my brother. This is not cool, right, So he's like looking around. He finds Walter Scott over there, you know, drinking punch, talking about how the world's gonna end in like have you read the Bible? And he's like, oh man. So he's like and he goes over to his brother and he's like stunned to see his brother's eyes are

doing that swirly thing. And he's like, oh no. And but he's familiar with PCP, right, He's like, well, you know, he'd taken actually a drug training class apparently, so it wasn't a year he did. He'd taken DARE. He was a DARE graduate. He dared to say. So Walter Scott is beginning to see what I can only describe as a personal nightmare. From his appellate case, we know that quote. At some point during the party, he began to see

intense colors and heard helicopters and loud sirens. He stated that his body was clumsy and he was sweating, had difficulty talking, and felt as if his heart was beating rapidly. That's like me on an afternoon. It's like Tuesday, right, So you hear the Tacha CARDI, Yeah, you hear some of the effects. The eyes are spinning. You're starting to know because you know what the signs of PCP are. Now, this guy has definitely got a PCP intoxication event going on,

and it's happening badly. So his brother knows, like you, this is not good. Something deeply wrong is occurring, and he's like, I need to get you out of here. Screw this backyard family reunion. We're going home. So he takes his brother, grabs him by the hand, and leads him to the car. So they flip his hair out of the way, so he puts on his glinked sunglasses. Come on, we're out of here, bro. So they go and they hit the car and that'sn't have been. Things

start to really get sideways. So the more this is just the beginning. So, as we know from the appellate case. Quote, on the way home, defendant told his brother he could see a big fireball in the sky, and then he could see the brother and his in laws in the flames. He the defendant described it as hell, and he stated either that they were trying to pull him in there or he was he was trying to pull them out.

So he's got like a whole like ontological theological hell fight going on with all of his family after lea this party. This is such a good insight into his psyche. Wait, just wait, this is just the beginning. So he at this point decides, well, you know what, maybe I should just fly home. So quote. He's like, no, I'm cool. No, you guys go, there's a fireball. You guys are trying to pull me into hell. I'm just gonna fly home

like so quote. At some point during the ride home, defendant stuck his head out of the car window and stated that he felt good enough to fly home. He tries to crawl out of the window of the moving car and flap his happy ass home, right, so, but his brother knows what's up. He's like, man, this is angel dust. I know what's up. So he's like, I'm from the streets, guys, I'm from l A. He's been dusted. He's definitely been sideways dusted by the angels. Everybody get

your figurines. So he tells his brother. He gets the home safely, doesn't jump out of the car, and he's like, okay, let's just get you to bed, gets into bed. He wakes up the next morning, he feels better. Boom, you see nothing to be afraid of. This is what I'm telling you. But there was something to be afraid of. While he feels better, he calls his brother and he's like, yeah, man, uh, I feel like I'm back to normal. Things should be cool.

And he's like, yeah, it's just whatever happened the night before. So he goes. It's a Sunday morning. He goes to church. He goes with his family and he's thinking, everything's cool. I mean he's going to pray about what he's done. Oh yeah, he's gonna get right with the Lord. You remember. He's like, look, almost got dragged into hell yesterday. I had to make it to church to get right. He's like, Jesus, we gotta talk. You need to have a real come

to Jesus, come and stay. But so Monday rolls around. Now he's got to go to work, right, So when he wakes up, he's feeling a little queasy, little sick. He takes his kids to school and then he comes home and he's got to take his mother in law to go buy glass to replace for some broken glass at her house, right, because there's been a major PCP party exactly and all this glass was broken. Yeah, because it's not just him, they're the people visible dogs and screaming,

trying to dance on the wall. So he goes with his mother in law. They pick up the glass panels and while he's there, the counter checker person their face starts morphing. He's like, oh, that's not right. So later on Walter Scott says it looked like he was from Mars. It freaks him out so much he runs out of the store. He can't handle it. He runs back into the parking lot and he's sitting there by his car. His mother in law that comes out, like, what's going

on and everything? I can't go back in the Woolvesworth back you know what's coming in there. So while he's standing outside in the parking lot and his mother in law walks out to him. Meanwhile, he's watching what he believes is his own funeral procession go by. He's just like, to do O, my funeral looks nice. I wish there was more flowers. So, I mean, he's just sitting there watching car after car and he's convinced that he's dead

right now. After he watches his own funeral, his mother in law comes out and joins him, and she's like, do you want to go home. He's like, yeah, let's go home. So they get in the car and he starts speeding. He starts. He gets on the freeway and he's gunning it right. She's like, is everything okay? And he's checking the skies like it's like, you know, Goodfellas. Right, He's convinced nothing is growing right for him. He gets to his mother in law's house and just drives right past.

Is that room? She's like, that was my house. He's like, no, no no, I need to go to Bakersfield. That makes perfect sense because I don't take care of everything. Yeah, it's like I need to go to Bakersfield. That's where things are made right. Everybody knows this in California. If you want to fix something, you need to go to Bakersfield. She's like, well, you know what, I need to go talk to my mom. And so he heads off to Bakersfield with his mother in law in the car to

go find his mom. And this is like, you know, bad enough. But he's racing down the freeway and he goes through this weird personality change. So he starts talking to his mother in law, starts calling her baby. He's like, look, baby, we need to get to Bakersfield because I need to talk to my mom. And she's like, what are what are you talking about? Why are you calling baby? Did he gently curress her face. We need to get on the run. Just suddenly turns smooth through. I'm going to

romance this entire your family. Your next he tells her. He's like, look, baby, quote the CIA is after me. They're following me in an airplane. I'm a secret anny. Why is it so funny to call baby? So he's like, you have to picture this scene. He's in the car speeding, his eyes are wild, he's sweating profusely, and he's calling his mother in law baby while staring at the sky and going, we got to get to Bakersfield. This is a great story, baby, exactly. So as they're going along

the they're weaving through traffic there. You know, he's changing lanes, he's running past people as fast as he can in the car. Eventually he's like just pushing it to the edge of the car. The car overheats, so he has to pull over and he's like, the completely red lines the car. The car overheat. He pulls over the side of the freeway and then what does he do. He jumps out a metaphor for him. He just starts running. He leaves his mother in law and they overheating car.

He's like, I'm out of here. I gotta go deal with the president. And he runs for off ramp for the freeway and right his mother and Mama loses the side of him and she's like, I hope he as a president. And at the top of his off ramp there's a Shell gas station. He's like, okay, that'll be my answer. There's cars in there. So he runs to the Shell gas station. He sees a thirteen year old boy and the little kid named Robert Briggs, a little Bobby Briggs sitting on his motorbike and just it's a Sunday,

he's gonna go riding in Riverside County. Right well, just Scott runs up to him and goes, hey, I need your motorbike. Kid, and kids like, yo, man, what are you talking about? This crazy hide sweaty wild old adult is yelling I need your motorbike. He's like, look, man, see I need your motorbike because I am a secret agent. I'm working for the CIA and I gotta get to the Washington to say the president. Kids like I'm over it, and so yeah, right he's like he's like demand again.

So what does he do? He shoves a kid off the bike. It's like, I need the bike. Kid, you don't understand. So he requisitions the kid's vehicle, but he can't as he's trying to u get make his getaway. He can't because he doesn't know how the motorbike starts. So he picks the kid up. He's like, how do I start your bike? Kid? The kids like I ain't telling you, old man. So here there he is in a shell gas station in Riverside County and he's sitting there right near the Highway ninety one, and he needs

this motorbike. Of course, other adults start coming over. No, we're gonna take a little pause and I will be right back and I'll tell you how this story comes to even crazier Wilder. I need to process all of this alright. So we are at a Shell gas station with our PCPs Secret Superspy who's just shoved a thirteen year old boy off of his motorbike because he needs to get to Washington to save the president. So a bunch of adults are like, this is not cool, man,

you can't be shoving thirteen year old kids around. This. One dude, Doug bush Lan, he's behind the wheel of his pickup truck and he's approaching the gas station. He sees Walter Scott shoved the kid off the motorbike and he's like, well, that ain't right. So he pulls in. He's like, I'm gonna, like, you know, teach that man what's what? And he gets out and Walter Scott sees him pulling to the gas station and runs at him.

He's like, wait what, and so Walter s Got runs up and goes, hey, man, I'm from the FBI and the c i A I need your car. Both the SBI and the CIA from both he and he works domestically internationally. Whatever you need now, Bush, that seems like a little bit good guy. He allows Walter Scott to hop in the back of his truck in the bed. He's in the pickup bed and goes go. He's pounding on the car, like go, let's go. That's phenomenal. So they take off and bush them, you know, good guy.

He drives off and he takes him to assume where he is going. He takes the Magnolia lumber yard. He's like, I gotta run a couple of areas. He's totally like driving the speed limit, using the signals. According to the Pellate case, Bush then quote Bush then testified the defendant seemed kind of crazy and if restless and hyperactive. He also appeared frightened and stated in a loud voice, the president of the United States and he had fallen out of an airplane. Oh wait, this is a new rink

because he's now letting people know the fuller story. It's not that he has to say of the president. He was with the President. I tried to get a motorbike, don't know how to use one. I've been riding in the back of a pickup truck ps the President and I fell out of a plane together. Yes, exactly somewhere in this general area of Riverside game. So well, this is interesting. Now. At the same time, at Magnolia lumber Yard, there's a dude named Christopher Bell. He works there as

a forklift operator. He sees Bushland's pickup truck pull into the yard with his wild eyed mass pounding on the top going go no need to go to pull in, and the guy's like, he says, he's yelling about how he fell out of an airplane. He's a member the CIA and the FBI, apparently, just like repeating himself, shouting until somebody will understands. From the appellate case quote, Bell observed defendant banging on the side of the truck stating that he was with the Secret Police and he wanted

to get inside the truck. So then Walter Scott hops out of the back of the truck and runs over to Bell, and as he approaches, he points at the freeway and yells at the President is passing by. Bell shuts off the forklift, takes the keys and climbs down and he's like, I'm out of here, man, I don't get paid enough for this, So Walter Scott then does what Walter Scott does. Quote defendant then jumped on top of the forklift and tried to start it, declaring that

he needed the forklift for police business. Bell removed the keys from the ignition and told the defendant he could use the telephone inside and called the police. Walter's ky decrease. He's like, Okay, I'm gonna come inside. I'm gonna call the police myself. Like, you're not forklift certified exactly. I'm gonna need to see the certifications. Yeah, and so until I get that done, you're just gonna have to I'll let you use our telephone. You're just one walking ocean violation, sir.

So then we go on. According to the appellate case, quote, once inside the building, defendant called information in an attempt to get in touch with Washington d C. Stating that he was quote John Shaft and that he was from the CIA. Yes, He's like, I'm John Shaft, come from the CIA. I'm a black man with an afro that is resplendent. I need the president. That's you know what? That is ridiculous? Right. So after that, when that doesn't work and information is like, um, sir, I can't do that. Quote.

The defendant hung up and read out the operator. This time he asked for the police and stated that they were trying to kill the president. He stated either that he or the President had fallen out of an airplane. So apparently he's just telling everybody this at this point, Well it happened, yeah, exactly. So I'm guessing the operator

didn't really take John Shaft too seriously. So quote defendant, and then hung up the phone, ran out of the building, jumped onto a nearby truck, and tried to start it. The truck's owners say soul ed Enteman followed close behind. Edeman Stepson was sitting in the passenger seat when the defendant jumped inside, closed the door and asked, how do you start this video? This guy doesn't know how to start any vehicle. He's just running around. How did this work?

The defendant then announcing, allowed voice, I'm with the CIA. I need to use the car. So the kid and the steps On totally unimpressed. Like the thirteen year old Bobby Brakes, So many cool customers in Riverside County were just some guy losing it and whatever. Crazier yeah, go back to San Diego. So the boy's stepfather, owner of the truck, cecil in him and he comes fronts Walter Scott and get the hell out of my car, right. Walter Scott obliges, because you know, this is a good

American citizen, this is the people he protects. So he runs back into the lumber yard. Quote. Defendant then telephoned his mother stating, I don't know where I'm at, but tell somebody to come get me. He then get I don't know where I am Every mother wants to hear, get right on it. So quote. He then asked the owner of the lumberyard to call the police. Defendant asked for everyone's names and addresses, indicating that he needed them

for his final report. Very meticulous. At this point, pretty much everyone in the lumber yard knows that this dude is out of his bo so like, well, um, let's just let him go and do whatever he needs. Eventually, Officer Dennis Wenzel arrives on the scene at Magnolia lumber and it's not hard for him to find Walter Scott. He's the one running around with the crazy eyes, going I'm with the FBI. I'm like the CIA. How do

I start this car? Do you have clothes? He did have clothes on, so quote Wensel handcuffs the defendant and places him in the squad car. While in the squad card, defendant screamed that he was innocent, that he was a CI agent and had credentials. At some point, defendant began thrusting his feet against the car door. Wentzel eventually placed additional restraints on him. Defend it repeatedly demanded that he be released immediately. He continued to scream for about forty

five minutes. However, he later appeared quite calm at the booking interview. I like when people demand to be released immediately? Has that ever worked? Unhand me? No, let me out? Oh? Oh are bad? Oh? I'm sorry. We totally made a mistake there, bro, I'm so sorry we didn't recognize. Do you need help finding the president? You can get a plan that you won't fall out of. I just needed you just scream that about twelve thirteen times in my face before it really sunk in. I'm so sorry. So

wal just got eventually gets charged for crimes. So what crimes do you think? He gets charged with? Resisting arrest? That's it? No attempted robbery, two counts of attempted unlawful driving or taking of a vehicle, an account of inability to start a vehicle completely. He reasons that he is, you know, obviously insane, So he says, look, look, I plead not guilty by reason of insanity to all the charges. He then decides to wave his right to a jury trial and to take a chance on a judge being

able to understand. He has one stipulation. He has an agreement that that the issue of his guilty weighed against you know, the the eye witnessed testimony and everybody who saw him, because if you hear his story, it may sound like he was just stealing cars, but if you saw him, you could understand he was a terrified animal trying to survive, and he wants that to be made

cleared for the judge. Fortunately, under California law, Walter Scott was found guilty and convicted on two counts of attempted on lawful driving or taking over vehicle. So then he takes his case to the Court of Appeals, which I've been reading from, and that was the fourth Appellate District, and on August three, in the case of the people versus Walter Stephen Scott gets relitigated, and the proceedings were

quoted earlier. Now we do know that from Justia Law Justia dot com that quote the evid it established the defendant unknowingly and therefore involuntarily ingested some kind of hallucinogen which caused him to act in a bizarre in a rational manner, and that acting under the delusion that he was a secret agent and that he was acting to save his own life or possibly that of the president, defendant attempted to quote take vehicles belonging to others without

their consent. The only question is whether or not a crime has been committed. So what's your call? Crime or no crime? I think you know he was the victim of basically like wouldn't you say, like an assault right where he's chemical. Yeah, and so this is just I just keep thinking how terrifying this must have been for him, Not just his own funeral, Yeah, not just like the people whose vehicles he tried to commentary that was terrifying.

But yeah, he sees his own funeral. He's going again, Like, I think it's such an interesting insight into his psyche that he doesn't go out and have delusions in which he's hurting people. He's trying to save all these people, and he sees himself as this like agent of good. And also I get the feeling he watches a lot of like really crazy action films because it's like, you know, it's like that's what's at the forefront of his mind.

It's this adventure things of like running on freeways and commandeering vehicles and you know, jumping out of a plane with the president. I love it. Personally, I'm I'm almost kind of envious, like I would love to have the excuse to do How could you find out guilty because it's you know, I think he was he was the one who really suffered. Who who was it who dosed everybody? They don't know that that's not made evident in the appellate case or any of the stuff that I read.

Mother in law, so some family member apparently the woman who was refilling Maybe I don't mother in law. Yeah. So the court decides, quote, under the circumstances we believe not, we believe not meaning not committed a crime. So the court sites Subdivision three of the Punal Code, Section six. They determined which persons are capable or incapable of committing a crime under the law, and I didn't know some people are considered incapable of committing a crime. I am,

I have that waiver. They issued a doc and it's just a blanket thing. I carry it with me. They're like, she can't commit a crime. I'm like, see, give me the car that. I'm pretty sure that was the thing you wrote in crayon saying diplomatic community everywhere you've seen it. Yea, that doesn't count. I meant to tell you that I talked to a lawyer. Yeah, okay, bad news, all right, I'll just I'll make up a martial one a permanent marker,

got it done. For instance. An example of somebody who cannot be held liable for a crime is quote persons who committed the act or made the omission charged under an ignorance or mistake of fact, which disproves any criminal intent. That certainly applies to Walter Scott. Quote. It is clear that, in attempting to commandeer the vehicle's defendant acted under a mistake of fact. He thought he was a secret government agent acting to protect his own life or possibly that

of the president. Now there is another instance where a person is deemed incapable of committing a crime. Quote. When a person commits an act based on a mistake to fact, his guilt or in a sence is determined as if the facts were as he perceived them. So your reality can be somewhat part of the reasonable nature of the law. That sounds a little loose, though I can feel right. So what this means is it it was reasonable for

him to steal cars to save the president. The court determined it was Quote if and in fact, defended were a government agent, and either his life or the life of the president were in danger, and defendant attempted to command here the vehicles for the purpose of saving his own life or that of the President, his actions would

have been legally justified under the doctrine of necessity. Also, the court added that quote, although defendant's mistake effect was undoubtedly irrational, was also undoubtedly reasonable under the circumstances, because the circumstances included that the mistake emanated from a delusion caused by defendants involuntary intoxication resulting from unknowingly ingesting some unspecified hallucinogenic substance. Because he got dusted and ain't his fault.

So like, basically, it's like, if you get temporarily brainwashed, you're not criminally liable because it wasn't you acting. This

has also been kind of tested in some sleepwalker cases. Now, the summary for the court is, quote, we conclude that, therefore, even if the evidence is sufficient to support the trial Court's findings that defended and tended to temporarily deprive the owners of the possession of their vehicles, defendant's actions clearly fall within the purview of Penal Code Section twenty six, Subdivision three, and we're therefore not criminal Boom Walter Scott innocent,

as Kanye would say. So, what's our ridiculous takeaway here? Well, Uh, PCP is a hell of a drug. I think that, you know, I'm just thinking that the people at the lumber Yard to this day tell amazing stories. They still get free drinks off that story completely, and I think it's probably evolved over time. Yeah. Um, but yeah, I, Like I said, I just keep focusing on how scary this must have been. I'm really glad that James Blonde was able to survive. James Bawn. I just it's before

point break. But I just keep imagining like swazy and Reagan mask and skydiving. Yeah, that's kind of what's so lot of that energy. But for me, it's the fact that according to California law, you can go on a mad crime spree and steel cars, car jacko forklifts, shove children around, you can command or whatever vehicles you want or common deer as long as you're on PCP. Like that way, you know, you're if you're convinced you need to save the president, you're free because he was. You're

on PCP. So I'm gonna go get some PCP. I have a great weekend. No, but for you, do you remember Diane Finstein. She was involved in a very famous legal defense when Dan killed George Musconey and Harvey Milk, supervisor Milk he claimed that the Twinkie defense. Yeah, he said that basically he changed his diet and that the high fat, high sugar diet he was eating made him

murderously depressed. Now, his legal strategy failed. He was convicted, but unlike the Twinkie defense, the PCP super spy defense it worked. So you know, just pick your poison. So if this all happened to me, what I think we'd probably call this the Fast and Furious defense that you are under the influence of watching all fast and furious movies. Okay, we'll just keep that in our pocket for when everything comes down, lawyer, and then I'll write up a document

for you with the thank you. We'll get the permanent pen. Yeah, get the permanent panel, get your waiver. Oh you know what that means. What does that mean, Elizabeth? It means we've got some listener mail here. Our email today comes to us from k Okay. Okay, before I read this off, I will let you know I am going to redact personal information for everyone's sake, particularly k in her family. So she writes, Hey, love the podcast. I have a

little crime story, and by little, I mean little. In the nineties seventies, my grandpa was the head of a small town Republican organization. Little did anyone know there was a secret in the house. It was a big, two story house on the top of a hill. Well, this part of the state is heavily wooded. The property didn't have too many trees close to the house, so it was always pretty sunny. The attic had these big dormer windows, so it was more like a studio with an a

frame roof than the usual dark, stuffy attic. In fact, you could grow plants in there. My grandma did. She grew weed in the attic. Listen to her rotten Grandma. Why did grandma do it? She thought that if she and my grandpa got caught, the newspaper headline would be funny. She grew intentionally hoping to get caught into embarrass The family signed k ps PS. My grandparents on that side, being Republicans, they probably voted for drug smuggler Richard Nixon.

Reference to if you listen to our crossover episode with Ridiculous History, Zaren tells us all about Richard Nixon, not Louis. Did you have some bag jack take into the known drug Mealle Richard Nixon? So yeah, that's m kay, I love it, Thank you, kay. She she did us a true crime confession, So there we go. That's first mail bag. All right. Well, thanks for joining us, y'all. I'm Zaron Burnett and I'm Elizabeth Dutton. You can find us online

at Ridiculous Crime on both Twitter and Instagram. If you've got a tip for us about a ridiculous crime you'd like to hear about, hit us up. If you want to confess to a ridiculous crime, you can double hit us up, email us at ridiculous crime at gmail dot com. Goodbye. Ridiculous Crime is hosted by Elizabeth Dutton and Zaron Burnett, produced and edited by the Imperial Majesty Dave Kustin, researches by the Intrepid Marissa Brown. Our theme song is by

Thomas Lee and Travis Dutton. Executive producers are Ben Bolan and Noel Brown. Ridiculous Crime is a production of I Heart Radio. Form our podcasts to my heart Radio, visit the ir heart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.