Bad Excuses, Drunken Brawls, And Crocodile Tears: The Best Of Florida Man In 2018

Published December 23, 2018
Updated July 10, 2019

Florida Man Dressed As Fred Flintstone Pulled Over For “Speeding” In “Footmobile”

Florida Fred Flintstone

Pasco Sheriff’s Office“Fred Flintstone” getting pulled over.

A Florida man dressed as Fred Flintstone was pulled over for reportedly exceeding the speed limit in his handcrafted “footmobile” made to look like the famous vehicle from The Flintstones, according to a Facebook post from the local sheriff’s office.

A sheriff’s deputy in Pasco County, Fla. pulled Don Swartz over on Nov. 4 in the Meadow Pointe Subdivision housing development in Wesley Chapel.

The man had fashioned his Smart car to look like a near-identical version of the “footmobile” that Fred Flintstone operated with his feet in the 1960s cartoon series The Flintstones. The man even went as far to take the side doors off of his vehicle to make his “footmobile” look more authentic.

However, while the car may look authentic, the incident itself was not, at least not entirely.

The Florida man did dress up and drive around in his “footmobile,” but the traffic stop was not entirely legitimate, according to WBTV, who wrote that the traffic stop was staged, with no real citation issued or property seized.

Police Footmobile

Pasco Sheriff’s OfficeThe arresting officer inside the “footmobile.”

Either way, the sheriff’s office did not indicate why Swartz decided to dress up and drive around in his “footmobile” four days after Halloween. Whether officers knew about Swartz and his vehicle before the incident remains unclear.

Nevertheless, the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office documented the incident and posted it to their Facebook page, along with photos of “Mr. Flintstone” and his vehicle:

“Mr. Flinstone was issued a citation for speed and became unruly and had to be detained. After further investigation, Mr. Flinstone was issued a Notice To Appear and released. Deputy Echevarria then seized the vehicle which is now part of the PSO fleet. This is what Intelligence-Led Policing looked like in the stone age.”

In the end, the Pasco Sheriff’s Office took advantage of the situation and created the type of viral moment that the internet loves to eat up. At the tail end of their Facebook post, the sheriff’s office explained: “A very special thank you to Mr. and Mrs. Don and Trina Swartz for being such great sports… Yabba Dabba Doo!”

author
Leah Silverman
author
A former associate editor for All That's Interesting, Leah Silverman holds a Master's in Fine Arts from Columbia University's Creative Writing Program and her work has appeared in Catapult, Town & Country, Women's Health, and Publishers Weekly.
editor
John Kuroski
editor
John Kuroski is the editorial director of All That's Interesting. He graduated from New York University with a degree in history, earning a place in the Phi Alpha Theta honor society for history students. An editor at All That's Interesting since 2015, his areas of interest include modern history and true crime.
Cite This Article
Silverman, Leah. "Bad Excuses, Drunken Brawls, And Crocodile Tears: The Best Of Florida Man In 2018." AllThatsInteresting.com, December 23, 2018, https://allthatsinteresting.com/florida-man-news-2018. Accessed April 19, 2024.