Men charged with staging ‘Jackass-style’ hoax abduction

POLICE issued a warning yesterday after four men were charged with staging a “Jackass-style” hoax abduction in Scotland.

Shoppers at a supermarket car park called police after they witnessed what they believed was a tussle between violent kidnappers and their victim.

As a car screeched into the car park, a man with a black plastic bag over his head stumbled out in an apparent attempt to “escape”, before being bundled into the boot by two “captors” as the car sped away.

But after four police cars rushed to the Tesco store in Dalkeith, Midlothian, it turned out the “abduction” was a stunt inspired by cult television show Jackass.

About 40 minutes after the incident on Sunday, the four men alleged to be involved were tracked down.

Police said the suspects claimed they were re-enacting a scene from the controversial MTV series Jackass.

The men, two 20-year-olds, a 24-year-old and a 26-year-old, were charged with breach of the peace.

Police have warned fans of the series off attempting similar stunts.

A spokesman said: “This Jackass programme is very popular among teenagers and being the summer holidays there will be a lot of youths about with time on their hands who could attempt to copy some of the stunts on the programme.

“We would advise them to be very careful not to do anything which causes fear and alarm to other members of the public or indeed might even end up with themselves being injured.”

Police chiefs described the incident as “downright dangerous”.

Stunts filmed for the show have been connected to many copycat incidents worldwide. There were calls to ban the show when a teenager died in a road stunt allegedly inspired by the series this year in Norway.

Jackass creator Johnny Knoxville said the show’s aim was to make people laugh. Each episode features disclaimers advising viewers not to recreate the scenes.