Brian Williams, a photographer from KFP Spy Photography, was attacked by a Volvo engineer driving the XC40 test car while he was filming the SUV. The Volvo engineer almost broke the video camera that Brian Williams, was filming the car on.
Though, it’s not illegal to shoot test cars, until they are plying on public roads or parked on public areas.
On the other hand, we also understand that being followed / stalked by people with cameras while you’re trying to do your job as an engineer can be frustrating and time-consuming. Nevertheless, if you’re not driving on a private track but on public roads, you just have to learn to live with it.
The test drivers, however, do sometimes get a firing from their bosses when the images of these secret cars are shown to the whole world via internet. This makes some of the test drivers think of spy photographers as one of the biggest threats to their jobs. In some very rare cases, they turn offensive and may get physical with the man behind the camera.
In this case, however, the engineer, who was quite aggressive in the beginning, on realizing that the photographer had his wife on board the car he was travelling in, mellowed down and eventually apologized for the act. This was after the engineer started moving towards Brian’s car. He warned the engineer to stay away from her or face the consequences.
Here’s what Williams said about the incident, according to a report from Jalopnik :
“I was filming the Volvo XC40 testing in the Rockies when the engineer lost it. He decided that I had filmed enough and wanted to break my camcorder. My wife was in the car so it made things a little interesting. After the video ends he approached my wife at which point I said “If you go near her I’ll knock you out” and at that point he came to his senses.”
“I told him that you can’t just attack people for videoing in public and told him that I knew he was here on a visa. He started apologizing and explained that he gets chewed out every time the car gets video’d/photographed, but his bosses don’t understand that you can’t hide a car that looks like a zebra.”
“I told him I wouldn’t show the video to local police, and I never saw him again. I ended up having a bruise on my arm for about two weeks.”
Brian did not press any charges or show the video to local police, inspite of having sustained a minor injury due to the assault. We really think the engineer got away for cheap.
Check out the video below the jump.
Also see – Spied – Volvo XC40 compact crossover totally undisguised
