Man’s banana peel slip scam fails to fool anybody
Banana peel slips have to be one of the more iconic comedic slapstick staples. Mental Floss writes that it seems to have started on Vaudeville, pointing to early 20th century comedians “Sliding” Billy Watson and Cal “Uncle Josh” Stewart as two people who were pioneers of thegag. It’s because of this association with comedy, we rarely ever think of it as being an actual danger. WJLA ABC 7’s report on Maurice Owens will not do anything to change that.
Maurice Owens was arrested and charged with second-degree fraud after his attempt to scam the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) went belly up. He claimed to have slipped on a banana peel that was not cleaned up in an elevator at the Potomac Avenue station. It was the perfect crime, except the fact that it was a poorly executed crime in nearly every way.
You see, there was security camera in that elevator. Before Owens got in, it showed a floor clearly devoid of any fruit peels.
Owens then looked up, and when he moved his feet, all of the sudden – a banana peel! After some quick research, we found out that elevators don’t have the capacity to grow a banana, eat a banana, and then toss the peel on the ground. We also learned that the manufacturers of elevators do not like being asked whether elevators eat bananas because it’s a, “severe waste of their time.”
Regardless, Maurice made a show of slipping on the peel and falling forward. He claimed to have had “…suffered injuries to his hip and leg,” and he was taken to the hospital. He then filed a claim for $15,000.
But, as we said, there was that tricky security camera footage. Whoops. WCAU NBC 4 Washington reports that Mr. Owens will appear in court next week. To him, we say, they most likely have cameras there too…so maybe leave the bananas at home.
