Why Police Released Guys Selling Coke on Venice Boardwalk
Published at
iStock/Thinkstock(LOS ANGELES) — From tricking pizza delivery guys into thinking their home is a meth lab to faking shark attacks in the ocean, the guys behind NelkFilmz are used to pushing the limits with their YouTube pranks. However, their latest prank almost landed them in jail.
“You guys need some coke?” they’re seen asking people on the Venice Boardwalk. The video then cuts to the four men sitting in a car, uncomfortably answering questions from two Los Angeles Police Department officers who were tipped off on a possible drug deal.
“I can’t do this. We have a bunch of coke in the back, I’m sorry,” Kyle Forgeard says in the video, tearing up and acting frightened. “It’s not ours, we’re just bringing it to a friend, I swear.”
“It was mostly improv,” Forgeard said. “We said one of us will say we have coke in the back, but I kind of did it on the spot, the crying character.”
What the officers didn’t know was the “coke” in the trunk was actual Coca-Cola, the very legal soft drink.
“The whole idea was to sell Coke on the streets and we have cameras around the car and filming outside, and the reaction was to get a good laugh out of it,” YouTube prankster Niko Martinovic told ABC News station KABC in Los Angeles.
“I had a heart attack because I didn’t know how they would initially react, especially Venice, because they have a lot of problems up there, so we just kinda went with it,” Martinovic said.
After discovering the Coke was actually Coca-Cola, the officers, both calm and smiling, uncuffed and released the pranksters.
But LAPD officials were not amused.
“I think it’s a big waste of police resources and also dangerous for everyone involved,” said Los Angeles Police Cmdr. Andrew Smith. “Here are two officers that are supposed to be doing police work, patrolling the neighbored and responding to 911 calls, and instead they’re participating unwillingly in a prank kids are doing for their own amusement.”
Forgeard said he isn’t worried about being charged with any crime.
“There’s no law that says no wasting police time,” Forgeard said. “Although I do sympathize with police, at the end of the day we didn’t break any laws.”
But police suggested that may not be true.
“There’s always possible charges for that,” Smith said. “We still have to meet with the city attorney. People delaying or obstructing officers is always something to consider. We don’t want to do that, because there are more important things to focus on.”
Follow @ABCNewsRadio
Copyright © 2015, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.