Ostriches do not bury their heads in sand to avoid danger (it's a myth), but human beings do it all the time. The NY Post found one such spectacular example of oblivious avoidance in Rahmell Pettway, a Brooklyn man who faked his own kidnapping in truly incompetent fashion in order to avoid explaining to his girlfriend why he disappeared for two weeks. "He's a total moron," a one law-enforcement source said. "It was a pathetic attempt to pull the wool [over] her eyes."
The Post reports that Pettway was first "discovered" by a passerby around 1:10 a.m. Thursday between two cars on Macon Street near Malcolm X Boulevard. Pettway's hands, legs, and mouth were covered in duct tape, he appeared injured, and he was complaining about his ribs hurting. Initially, he "couldn't recall" what happened, but later told cops two men in a light-blue minivan abducted him on Feb. 19th, then dropped him off two weeks later on the street.
Of course, the abductee's story wasn't helped by the fact that cops had found him with the roll of duct tape still dangling from his wrists. His intricate plan in tatters, Pettway confessed that he staged the kidnapping because he had disappeared for two weeks, and feared explaining to his girlfriend where he had been.
“The officers were asking him, ‘Are you OK? Are you OK?’ said witness Lisa, who lives across the street from where Pettway was found. She couldn't believe it when she learned it was all a hoax: “That’s something very sick,” she said. “Just be a man and face the consequence.” Another local said: “He did that just so he wouldn’t get caught by his girl? The lengths people will go not to tell the truth.”
It's unclear where Pettway was during his two-week "abduction," but TED Talks about girlfriend avoidance are notoriously time-consuming to write.
