He ate a tablet to avoid police arrest - #WTFWednesday

Usually when you swallow a tablet, it’s for medicinal purposes. You feel better afterwards.

But for one man in St. Petersburg, Russia, eating a tablet meant chowing down on something more of the computer variety. And pretty soon afterwards, he was as dead as a PepperPad.

With the police at his door, the man faced a deadly decision. He could allow the police to arrest him. Or he could take action. Unfortunately, the action he chose was a little severe: he ate his tablet—screen, circuit boards and all. (Note: Sputnik News cheekily reports: "It is unknown whether the deadly device was Android or Apple.")

How on Earth did it come to this?

Police Report

It all started at around 5pm one quiet Sunday in June, reports the Moscow Times. Neighbors heard the man throwing large objects out the window of his apartment in Parnas, in the north of St. Petersburg, including his own furniture.

Russian police were soon on the scene.

“A 41-year-old unemployed man was found in the apartment, who resisted arrest when apprehended by police, after which he continued to conduct himself inappropriately,” said a police statement.

After the police arrived, the man—who hasn’t yet been named—started to eat the device.

It’s not clear from the report what caused the man most damage—eating the tablet, or the police’s interventions. The report continues:

The officer at the scene stopped the action (eating the tablet), in the course of which he received bodily injury… The officer immediately called for the emergency services. The man lost consciousness and died before the arrival of the medics.

How Far Would You Go?

An investigation is now underway into what really happened.

Maybe he was mentally ill. Maybe he just really didn't want to be arrested. Or—speculating here—maybe he was a private citizen who didn't want the police to access whatever was on his tablet—so passionate that he was willing to die to protect his own privacy.

It isn’t a course of action we at ExpressVPN would ever recommend, and our thoughts go out to his friends and family.

But if this man did indeed eat his tablet to protect his digital privacy, then that gives us some food for thought. How far would we go to protect our own privacy?

You've been reading #WTFWednesday, our weekly close-up on bizarre stories related to your digital privacy. If you know someone who’d find this story tasty, why not share it?

 

 

Like this post? Hate it? Read more horror stories about the invasion of your privacy in our #WTFWednesday archive.