Need For Speed Most Wanted found at scene of fatal crash

by James Ransom-Wiley on Jan 26th 2006 11:30AM

Canadian media outlets have jumped all over the tragic death of Tahir Khan, a taxi driver who was killed when an 18-year-old, racing his parents' Mercedes, collided into Khan's vehicle. The other teen involved in the street race initially fled the scene, but later returned. Police later found a copy of Need For Speed Most Wanted on the front seat of one of the vehicles involved in the grim incident.

Both teens have been charged with criminal negligence causing death and face maximum sentences of life in prison. As has been the case in the past, the media has suggested video games, specifically NFSMW, as a motive for the deadly crime.

[Thanks, Brian & Tom]

Reader Comments (45)

Queue the Daily Mail's cries of 'Ban this sick filth!'.

Parents love this kind of thing as it gives them yet another thing to blame for their delinquent children's behaviour, rather than face up to the fact that they are simply shit parents.

Poor guy was getting his citezenship tomorrow too :(

Not every media outlet is up in arms about this. Check out this even-handed approach:
As police yesterday questioned what influence the game may have played and Khan's friends grappled with his death, the two accused made a brief court appearance.
"It's a horrible irony," said Det. Paul Lobsinger about the presence of the video game, which allows players to choose high-end cars and race them through city streets while being pursued by police cruisers.
"Some have said this is life imitating art but I don't know, " said Lobsinger, adding "a game is a game, but when you get behind the wheel it's reality."
Lobsinger described the game as an "ultra-violent driving simulation, fighting simulation and criminal simulation."
"But are games the cause?" he asked. "Absolutely not. But, it is rather ironic."
Police say alcohol was not a factor, and that it's not clear if the video game was played before the two went out driving.

Saw this on my front page this morning. Noticed that both drivers were driving Mercedes Benz's. If you ask me, I would have to say they had too much money and time on their hands. Even if they hadn't been playing NFSMW, I bet those jerks would have still been racing those cars (at age 18).

What do you think an 18 year old boy is going to do with a Mercedes and no parental supervision? I used to street race my dad's Oldsmobile back when the hottest racing game was the original Mario Kart. Teenagers are just stupid that way.

I agree completely with you #1

No one blamed JD Salinger when the guy who assassinated John Lennon had Catcher in the Rye in his back pocket...
They're just lookign for an excuse. Alot of people play video-games, just because they happen to be fucked up in the head, and they play video games, doesn't mean the video games caused it. You all sound like idiots, (the people who blame video games as a cause of violence.) Jesus.

Oh give me a break, do they blame the stash of cds in his car, or apple for an iPod. No! When will games stop being a scapegoat for accidents, and inability of parents to raise their children.

No, no! There's definately something in this logic...just the other day I found myself under the influence of video games. I started jumping on turtles and headbutting giant floting boxes with questionmarks on them. I don't know what came over me...

FFS

Specious reasoning at its best.

Im glad that none of us have to take any responsibility for our actions. In the old days if I did something bad, it was my fault and I got in trouble for it. Now I can always blame someone else. Movies, video games, tv shows, music.

Since parents no longer do any of the child raising and leave things entirely up to media, doesnt that make parents obsolete?

To elle:
IMO, the very fact that anyone - the police, journalists, whomever - choose to mention the fact that there was a copy of NFSMW on the passenger seat is an implication of blame in itself.

Would anyone have thought to mention the fact that there was a packet of mints in the glove compartment? Or that there was a coat on the back seat? Quite...

As a wise man once said, it's like blaming spoons for Rosie O'Donnell being fat.

Say it with me now... "Reality...Video Games...Reality...Video Games" Separate concepts, mutually exlcusive to all "normal" human beings.

If they blow this out of proportion because the game was sitting there in the seat of the car...that's just plain stupid. When I read the heading, I thought maybe they were playing it in the car or something when the crash happened.

The game was sitting there, in the seat...supposedly. It had nothing to do with the crash...where are the parents in all this?

haha, you can buy parts to trick out cars to the point of putting nitros oxide in them, but it's video games that make kids want to speed?

how about all the real life influencers of these kids that are just a couple years older and hanging out at the local coffee shop with their barely legal souped up honda civics? but no, they don't do this to race them!? come on.

The other kid had a Fast Lane Slam Shifter Turbo Playset and some toy cars. I think the blaim is with Hot Wheels.

If they were 18, then they should be responsible for their own actions. Besides, teenagers do this thing all the time. This time a video game happened to be in a car. Plenty of people race that have never played a video game.

The parents' only mistake was letting the borrow their cars.

I wonder if the press would've even printed a 2 line comment if the 2 idiots had a copy of the magazin "Car & Driver" in the car.

Don't blame the dumb ass parents, blame "a la mode" problems. Rock'n'Roll is passe, Cinema/TV and violence is passe, Video Games is now the "cool factor" to blame.

I swear, thes parents really need to be held responsible for the acts of their clowns kids.

God, all this media coverage is starting to panic even me. I love games and don't think they cause harm, but this does sound like a rich kid trying to re-enact his favorite game with a buddy.

He probably wasn't trying to hurt anyone, just being stupid.

Of course, I re-enacted things I saw in movies when I was a kid, but nothing like this.

I live in toronto (where this occured) and woke up to this story on the news this morning. Jus thought I'd mention that we already have laws against sell M rated games to minors here, as we have since before GTA san andreas.

Oh and #3, you have bang on.

The Toronto Star has a much better article about this tragic event. I suggest you read it. The links to the story above are very poorly written.

I can't believe that people keep blaming video games for stupid things people do. I agree that video games, movies, music, etc, have become a major scapegoat for parents who are un-willing to properly raise their children! I think that it is somewhat logical that the driver had NFSMW in the car. Not because NFS made him do it, but think of it this way.

You're a teenager, who is into street racing.
You'll go out with your buddies and drag race, illegaly.
Wouldn't you be interested in a game that lets you do that on your PS2, Xbox, etc? Like, if you were a skateboarder you might like the Tony hawk games.

I'm just trying to say that video games are blamed way to much these days for bad behavior.

Well, I have to go defeat that giant fire breathing turtle that's been bugging me all month.
Onlinealways

"Lobsinger described the game as an 'ultra-violent driving simulation, fighting simulation and criminal simulation.'"

Granted, Im only about 1/2 through this game, but I havent seen anything ultra violent about it. There are car crashes, yes, but I wouldnt call them unltra violent. Also, unless it comes in later in the game, there is absolutly no fighting in this game.

I wish all of these "responsible adults" would think back to when the media and their parents tried stop "that rock & roll devil music". Every new generation has its own form of entertainment that the former generation doesnt understand. We fear what we dont understand, so the former generation attacks the current generations entertainment. In the begining of the 1900s there were probobly people saying that the Moving Picture Show was going to be the end of decency in our culture, ect, ect.

i live around the toronto area as well, and i keep seeing the same story over and over on the news. They keep showing interviews with kids who agree that videogames are to blame, never showing anyone who disagrees. It's the medias way of twisting the story to make it fit their view. Drag racing and street racing have been around since there were cars, and statisticly young males are more likely to do something stupid behind the wheel. That is why insurance costs so much.

If anything they played the game because it let them drive really fast in nice cars. No one I know would ever play a racing game unless they liked cars and liked the idea of driving fast in them. The game might have glorified it, but they had thought about racing before they ever played the game.

When you crash in NFSMW... nothing happens. Your car slows down, then you accelerate and there's no penalty. How is that a driving simulation? That's an arcade game! When you slam into a semi, your car REALLY slows down, then you accelerate again and guess what, no penalty! That's not a simulation at all.

Wait. I just heard reports that checking your email is a mailbox simulation.

God, what a shame. Poor Guy, and his family in Pakistan. Poor kids who've ruined their lives and probably those of their families. But what a great opportunity for media sensationalism.

I wonder if Thompson will weigh in soon.

Yes, Canadian media is the same sensationalist crap posted everywhere else in the world. Global news at 6 with kevin "i'm a straight and narrow WASP", DOSE magazine, rogers hell, and to top it all off, the star bought 20% of Globemedia (previously independent left-wing paper + 20% right wing garbage = poo in my toilet).

Did anyone notice how sensationalist the election coverage was? To this day I still blame the media for convincing people to vote conservative. If those stupid EKOS polls weren't front page every day, creating opinions out of thin air, we'd have a liberal/NDP controlled parliment.

This isn't a video games issue. This is about preying on fear in hopes of generating readership that has stagnated over the last decade as more people realise that internet news can suck, but at least you can pick what you want to read. Show me a paper that doesn't rely on death, war, car crashes, and crime to sell, and i'll buy you a tim hortons double-double. /rant

According to those here, for no other reason than he admitted to racing in his youth, thenotoriousBEN had sh!t parents. So sad, so sad. You guys are just as lame. When are YOU going to stop blaming parents for every idiotic thing a kid does? Whoa, logic sucks, don't it.

I went through this in the 80s with metal. Don't worry, you guys will eventually mature to the point where you don't get your undies all in a bunch everytime this happens. And it does. And when games become common place, it will be the next form of music, or the next Ozzy, or the next Natural Born Killers. Just take a breath, roll your eyes and go play.

Dude.

They planted that shit.

Hey Rymix, can you see my posts? I can't anymore.

I remember when I read about all kinds of murders, prostitution, theft, polygamy and adultery when I was only a kid. That book should be burned. I think it was called, "The Holy Bible".

Are there more press examples? The stories linked here (from Pulse24 and 940 News) are pretty even keeled. I tried hard, but couldn't find any juicy sensationalism:

-----
"Speeds in the game reach 300 kilometres an hour. Cops theorize the accused were trying to turn the fantasy into reality, with tragic results."
-----

True. I don't think that there's any question in the article that the two kids just had bad judgement.

Here's another (hopefully taken in context):

-----
"I don't think it's a giant leap for people to say, 'Wow, how does this go together?' "

[...]

Despite finding an auto-racing game at the scene of the crime, Lobsinger stressed the game wasn't solely to blame.

"Look, in the proper perspective . . . if everyone imitated a video game such as that, we'd have to ban cars," he said.
-----

I'm sure that the defense will include some attempts at shifting blame to the game, but these two stories aren't doing that. Actually, I think these are good examples of the media actually getting it right.

Are there more examples out there?

Next time if I did something good to the community or have a chance to save someone from any accident, i'll blame it on videogames... saying videogames actually inspired me to my actions on saving people!

Why don't we ever hear anything like this when they find a Bible in the car with the deceased, or in the pocket of a criminal?

Certainly the Bible has more violence in it than even the GTA games!

I totally agree with you too # 1, but man I have to admit I so want to jump in a Viper and lead a high speed chase down my highway, after playing NFSMV!!!

brad77, Joystiq edited the post from the original, which linked 6 or 7 stories. A few were from the same wire service, including Yahoo! Canada's reposting of the CP wire story. They linked to a story on the accident on CBC's site, but it didn't even mention the game.

elle:
No, it disappeared just after I posted my response to you. Also, the number of comments cited on the main page never seems to match the number on the story page.

Methinks the recent comments 'upgrade' kinda fooked up.

Joystiq: this problem has been mentioned loads of times before. You guys working on it yet?

"Next time if I did something good to the community or have a chance to save someone from any accident, i'll blame it on videogames..."

Best. Quote. Evar. Well done worai ;) Seriously.

People have got to stop blamming stuff like this on video games.

I live in Toronto, and when i read this on the cover of the paper I just couldn't believe how rediculous it was (what I actually said I cannot type here). People need to start taking responsibility.. for one, not letting an 18 year old out driving on his own in a MERCEDES! What did they think he'd do, go 40 km/h and relax? Kids are getting spoiled, and I'm from that generation, it really ticks me off. If he's stupid enough to think he can drive like that without getting killed or injuring another person, he's the one who should be underground right now.

The game blaming bit has to end. If it has that strong of an influence on someone, then their mind is not strong enough to be playing them.

To #28, maybe you don't read the news, but parents all over the country will be very happy to blame games for their delinquent kids' behaviour. Take a closer look at them and you'll see that the majority of these are incompetent parents.

It has nothing to do with blame. It's just fact.

I'm looking forward to seeing which game they blame for their 13 year old daughters getting pregnant.

Thanks, Elle. Joystiq, you should put them back into the post. Not having them kinda eats into the credibility of the story.

Heard this on the radio yesterday..

like everyone else, it's bullshit! Need For Speed had nothing to do with the crime! And if they were playing it, why would it be in the car? Wouldn't it be in the 360/Xbox/Gamecube/PS2/etc?

I mean, let's say some guy gets murdered while using his computer, and AIM is the active program. Do you blame AOL for the death?

has the stupid media ever thought that the kid likes street racing, so he bought the game? instead of the other way around? and yes the kid is a moron and should be put in prison. not because of the video game though.

You know I hear if you play a video game in reverse you will hear *satanic messages.* Its true. I heard from a friends brothers buddy's sisters college roomate.

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Need For Speed Most Wanted found at scene of fatal crash

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