Dashcam footage shows the moment a woman who was texting while driving crashed a rental car after losing control of the vehicle.
The unnamed woman is seen texting on her phone with both of her hands while she drives down a road, before the car steers off to the side and smashes into a street sign.
The woman is heard screaming and slurring as she notices that the vehicle is running off the road and attempts to regain control of the car.
But as the car comes to a halt, the woman places her head in her hands and wails in fury.
Jose Arevalo, 18, had rented out his 2013 Nissan Leaf on the car-sharing app Turo to the woman on August 25.
Just hours before the woman was meant to hand over the keys, Jose said he received a message from her claiming she had been ‘driven off the road’ and that the car was being towed.
But after reviewing his vehicle’s dashcam footage, he unveiled the truth behind the car accident.
Jose, a part-time trampoline park employee from Arlington, Washington, said: ‘I was shocked when I saw the dashcam.
‘I believed what she texted me and thought someone had really driven her off the road.
‘To see her so blatantly texting and then so clearly lie about it seemed so strange to me.’
According to Jose, the woman had sent him a follow up message saying she filed a report with the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office and opened a claim with Turo, both of which omitted any mention of her texting while driving.
Jose had only started renting his car on a week earlier to make extra money after his work hours were cut short.
He had installed the dashcam six months prior for safety and had always informed his renters about it.
Jose said: ‘One of the first things I thought of when she texted me about the accident was the dashcam, but she didn’t say anything about it.
‘I just took her work on what happened because I figured, who would lie on a police report?’.
Repair estimates came to $4,959, which he says outweigh the cost of a new car.
It comes after a van driver in the UK smashed into a broken down car back and caused life-changing injuries to the driver after he got distracted by his phone.
Nathan Cole later admitted he had been checking social media while driving a Volkswagen van at high speeds down the A27 in West Sussex, police said.
He failed to see a Peugeot which had stopped on the hard shoulder of the busy dual carriageway, and careered into the back of the stationary vehicle.
The other driver suffered devastating injuries, needing surgery to have their leg amputated and spent time in a coma.
Dashcam video shows Cole, of Brighton, repeatedly looking down while driving at 72mph – 12mph faster than the speed limit for his vehicle, police said.
The broken down car then comes into view, before he smashes into the back. His airbag goes off and Cole then exits the vehicle.
The 29-year-old admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving at a hearing at Worthing Magistrates’ Court on April 8.
He appeared at Lewes Crown Court for sentencing on June 13, where he was jailed for two years and four months and was disqualified from driving for four years and four months.
