It is no secret that smartphones can be very distracting and have been known to cause accidents. Well, with the release of Pokemon GO, the game has caused users to pay less attention to their surroundings as they are glued to their screens trying to hunt Pokemon, leading to many unwanted accidents. While most Pokemon GO related accidents have been caused by the lack of attention from its users itself, that wasn’t the case for pregnant Kaitlyn Shelton as she was deliberately knocked down by a vehicle while she played the popular game.
18-year old Shelton from Missouri says she was knocked down by a van while out with friends playing Pokemon GO. Friends of Shelton said that a van sped past them out of nowhere while they were playing the augmented reality game which prompted Shelton’s sister, Ashley, to yell out in alarm at the driver after the near miss. That’s when the motorist put the vehicle in reverse and ran over the pregnant teen, causing her to fall unconscious. Ashley went on to say that the van reversed some more after that and ran over Shelton’s legs. Shelton was faced down and her sister couldn’t tell whether she was dead or alive at that point. According to Shelton, the next thing she knew, she woke up in hospital terrified that she might have lost her unborn child. Doctors were forced to perform an emergency C-section on her to save the baby. Hospital staff had to tie Shelton down for a while because she wouldn’t calm down and kept asking about her baby. Thankfully, doctors managed to deliver a healthy baby boy named Joshua Miles Shelton.
Authorities are investigating the hit-and-run and police are hunting for a turquoise or teal Dodge Caravan. Shelton has said that she wants the person responsible to be caught so that nobody else will be hit and left on the side of the road like her. Shelton added that she cried everyday at the thought of almost losing her son that day. Pokemon GO has proved to be very distracting as it has caused multiple car accidents, including a case in which a motorist crashed into a tree while playing the game.