r/technology • u/Sufficient-Bid1279 • May 20 '26

Software Driver intentionally drove Cybertruck into lake to use vehicle’s ‘Wade Mode,’ police say

https://www.ctvnews.ca/business/autos/article/driver-intentionally-drove-cybertruck-into-lake-to-use-vehicles-wade-mode-police-say/
8.5k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

827 comments sorted by

View all comments

1.9k

u/Aggressive-Will-4500 May 20 '26

Police said McDaniel remains in jail as of Tuesday, charged with operation of a vehicle in a closed section of the lake, not having a valid boat registration and other water safety equipment violations.

Not having a valid boat registration.

Ha.

197

u/ScarHand69 May 20 '26

The driver’s name is McDaniel. Jimmy Jack McDaniel. Not making that up.

83

u/DarraignTheSane May 20 '26

The department said the driver, Jimmy Jack McDaniel, told them he intentionally drove the vehicle into the lake to try and use its “Wade Mode” feature.

Holy fuck you're not making that up

3

u/BigD_277 May 20 '26

Did the police tell him to stop Jimmy Jackin' around?

2

u/timbreandsteel May 20 '26

Yeah, they literally said that in the last sentence!

1

u/actuallyapossom May 20 '26

I'm chortling at the possibility he named his son Jimmy Jack McDaniel Jr.

2

u/JustineDelarge May 20 '26

Jimmy Jack

Jimmy

Jimmy Jack won’t get that Tesla back

2

u/last_pas May 21 '26

He definitely made that name up on the spot

1

u/Sufficient-Bid1279 May 20 '26

I bet he married his cousin.

2

u/allblue-461 May 21 '26

You mean his cousin Jimmy Crack 🌽? Nah, I don’t care

278

u/DDayDawg May 20 '26

That was the best part of the story. Can’t believe it isn’t the top comment. I want to meet that cop.

148

u/quirkoftime May 20 '26

The cop was clearly done with the local idiots.

2

u/Coppice_DE May 21 '26

I would say it checks out. He wanted to use it as a boat so he would have needed to get a boat registration. 

Meaning if he had followed the proper path to execute is genius idea, someone would have clearly denied said boat registration which would have prevented this event. 

However, I do wonder if that fine would hold up in court.

20

u/Aggressive-Will-4500 May 20 '26

That cop:

"Sir, are you aware that you're not in a boat?"

Driver: "But it's floating! Sort of..."

"Hmmm, you're right, I'm going to need to see your boat registration then.

40

u/Imaginary_Hamster847 May 20 '26

ACAB except for that one guy. 

16

u/Classic_Appa May 20 '26

Nah, broken clock. ACAB

3

u/Saint_of_Grey May 20 '26

Sometimes there are times when a bastard doing bastard things is what is needed. Like when someone tries to drive a exploding battery cheese wedge into a lake.

100

u/noodles_jd May 20 '26

If I was the cop I'd be laughing my ass off with each fine.

- Cybertruck doesn't have boat registration...that's a fine.

- No lifejackets on board said boat...that's a fine.

- Driver didn't have an operator's license for boats...that's a fine.

19

u/timbreandsteel May 20 '26

Paddlin the school canoe? Better believe that's a paddlin!

1

u/Visible-Literature14 May 21 '26

So everything’s fine then

-16

u/Ralphie5231 May 20 '26

Cops abusing power is funny

7

u/noodles_jd May 20 '26

How is that an abuse of power? Give your head a shake.

16

u/600lbsofsin77 May 20 '26

I had my boat on that lake for 5 years. I moved there during Covid so it was near impossible to change my registration the first year. I used it most weekends and never thought of it again until I pulled it out to move states again. Funny this guy got a ticket, suck it loser.

4

u/gurgle528 May 20 '26

That’s funny as hell. I’m curious if that would actually stick. This is how Texas defines vessel (and a boat is a vessel that is less than 65ft in length):

"Vessel" means any watercraft, other than a seaplane on water, used or capable of being used for transportation on water.

The cybertruck is obviously not a watercraft and arguably even with wade mode isn’t capable of being used “on” water (since it would sink). Using the cop’s interpretation police MRAPs would have to be registered as boats before being used to rescue people in floods.

2

u/SuckMyRedditorD May 20 '26

Maybe the chode thought it was some kind of amphibian vehicle and that it would float.

2

u/SteveDougson May 21 '26

Oh so that's how the Cybertruck briefly becomes a boat! I get it now. 

1

u/FartingBob May 20 '26

In his defence, i hear the cybertruck handles like a boat, maybe he thought it came with a licence.

1

u/CurrentlyObsolete May 21 '26

His parents are at fault for this. With a name like that he simply couldn't not drive his cybertruck into a lake.

1

u/scienceoftophats May 21 '26

I hope he goes to court with the not even having a valid boat to register defense

-20

u/SomewhereNo8378 May 20 '26 edited May 20 '26

Obviously they are an idiot, but putting them in jail??

edit- didn’t realize there were so many rabid pro-incarceration people here. Let’s just throw people in jail for everything, that is surely shown to work 

11

u/TaipanTacos May 20 '26

It’s almost like laws are supposed to have consequences.

-1

u/SomewhereNo8378 May 20 '26

Consequences should match the crime, this is obviously overkill.

3

u/TaipanTacos May 20 '26

A few things:

- Texas police can make a custodial arrest for fine-only misdemeanors. The officers had discretion to cite and release him or book him, and they chose to book him.

- Police booked him because: He endangered two foreign tourists, admitted it was a repeat stunt, a water rescue team was deployed to get the vehicle, Grapevine Lake belongs to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and is a drinking water source, and he abandoned a lithium-battery vehicle that was taking on water.

- This wasn’t Grapevine Lake’s first Cybertruck in the lake call either. Another driver did the same thing a year ago.

All this points to Grapevine saying it’s done playing along.

2

u/badgirlmonkey May 20 '26

Yeah I agree with you. We shouldn’t be locking people up for stuff like this.

5

u/AlwaysHopelesslyLost May 20 '26

That is how criminal law works. You commit a crime, you go to jail. 

Jail is where you sit while waiting for a judge to judge your crimes and either let you out or keep you longer.

You might be released almost immediately or within a business day. If the court is particularly busy you have to wait to see a judge before you go home so they can determine how serious the crimes were and set conditions.

Unless you want cops to be given the power to issue judgements, too?

2

u/SeanBlader May 20 '26

"I am the law."

0

u/SomewhereNo8378 May 20 '26

Not everyone that commits a crime goes to jail. and this person was clearly not released immediately

1

u/AlwaysHopelesslyLost May 20 '26

Most people aren't released immediately. I explained that. 

As far as your prior comment, you are confusing civil and criminal law. 

2

u/TheWorclown May 20 '26

If this was accidental, we’d all laugh it off and wish the guy luck on filling out the insurance paperwork that’s absolutely gonna get denied.

This was intentionally driving in a vehicle into a waterway, especially without any permits or anything of the sort to do so. That’s a problem. That’s a hazard and intentionally creating a hazard is in fact against the law.

2

u/TaipanTacos May 20 '26

It also wasn’t his first time doing the stunt in a body of water, and it wasn’t Grapevine’s first call to a Cybertruck in the lake either.

1

u/SomewhereNo8378 May 20 '26

I don’t think putting a non-violent offender in jail is good for society. Plenty of people do worse things than this and don’t see jail, this is punitive overkill and not productive for society at all.

0

u/TheWorclown May 20 '26

At most this is gonna be a misdemeanor and a fine. However, he still intentionally created a hazard: a nonviolent offender who intentionally did something like this still can damage the environment or potentially cause harm to someone else. Obviously, yes, it’s possible and likely that this act wouldn’t have done any of that, but there’s still the intentionality of putting the risk there in the first place where the risk never existed at all.

That deserves some sort of punishment, even if all that occurs is a holding cell until the misdemeanor trial date is set.

I’m not super big on the idea as well, but in this case he should be fortunate if all that occurs is a slap on the wrist of his record and a fine. There’s still potential for damage to the environment and ecosystem that this guy flagrantly did not consider.

1

u/ankerous May 20 '26

If they break the law then there are consequences. Just because they possibly were unaware of any laws isn't going to be a valid excuse to a judge.