The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports that a local cameraman paid a $145 fine for asking three children to ride their bikes through waist-high floodwater:
The youths – ages 13, 13 and 14 – told police that Abrahamsen offered to videotape them and put them on the news, a police report said.
A female reporter not identified in the police report waded into the water so the boys would be riding behind her in the video, the report said. An arriving officer witnessed the boys struggling to pedal through the water. Two adults confirmed the boys’ stories, the report said. Abrahamsen denied the event, the report said.
Abrahamsen said Monday he never asked the children to ride through the water. He said he pleaded no contest because it would cost more to fight the charge.
Fined for fake news — if he worked for Comedy Central, he’d be up for a Peabody.