The distance between Painesville, Ohio, and Cleveland is 30 miles. That’s something 19-year-old Victoria Bascom will never forget, after a judge forced her to walk that far as punishment for stiffing a cabbie. (“Stiffing a cabbie” sounds like something a local news anchor would think is code for “smoking a joint.”) A driver took Bascom from her hometown to the Factory of Sadness, but she left the cab without paying the $100 fare. Judge Michael Cicconetti, known for his cruel and hilarious punishments, was having none of that and gave Bascom two options:
Walk 30 miles in 48 hours, or go to jail. She chose the former.
“I’ve never been to jail and I don’t want to go to jail,” Bascom told WEWS. “I’m kind of upset about this sentence, you know, ’cause I’m thinking I was going to go in and just have to pay a fine — I guess only a 100 dollars or whatever. I almost ended up getting jail time, so I guess I’m kind of lucky he gave me this option.” (Via)
The sentence was eventually reduced to 20 miles because “[Bascom] walked in an grassy, muddy area of the grounds rather than the asphalt around it,” but she’s on probation for four months and paid the driver $100 as restitution. Cabbies are people, too. Unlike carnies.
I wonder how many times you can listen to the Proclaimers during a 20-mile walk…
(Via: ABC News)