My latest Facebook post examined the YouTube video “Bait Bike in the Hood“. One of the pranks involves the use of a bicycle that is left out in the open. It is placed to entice a would-be thief to try to steal it. But, the pranksters tied the bike with a hidden, and very long, cable. The result is that the thief attempts to ride away and when the cable tightens, the thief goes tumbling.
It is interesting to examine this in the area of negligence and torts.
Negligence is the lack of due care for the safety of others. It would appear that the folks who tied the bike up didn’t care much whether anyone was injured here.
Assumption of risk is when someone knows there is an inherent risk of a danger, but chooses to move ahead anyway. Did the thief engage in the assumption of risk?
How about torts? A tort is a “wrong” that one person inflicts upon another. Did the prankster commit a tort? How about the thief?