PEI's Monday Amber Alert Was All Because Of A Joke Gone Wrong

There are things that you should never joke about in public. Being kidnapped would probably be pretty high up on that list. That's exactly what prompted the P.E.I Amber Alert to be issued on Monday.

In an update released later the same day through social media, Summerside Police in Prince Edward Island said that the person involved in the alert had contacted them to say that she believed she was the person they were looking for.

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She said that she had jokingly yelled out the car window to a friend in another vehicle that she was being kidnapped, and that the entire situation was just a misunderstanding.

All of the people in both cars knew each other. The woman told authorities that she had not meant to cause any alarm.

The original Amber Alert was sent out on August 17 at 1:18 p.m. ADT through the Alert Ready system.

Police had received the initial call about someone yelling they had been kidnapped just before noon the same day and put out a press release regarding the incident 10 minutes later.

They then released a photo of the vehicle in question just after 5:00 p.m. on their social media platforms, describing it as "a black sports car with silver trim and a spoiler on the back."

This was the photo that prompted the woman to contact the authorities and let them know that she had not actually been kidnapped.

"Police were able to confirm the details of the woman’s version of events and are satisfied that she is the person involved and that there was no abduction," the release reads.

The police offered their thanks to both the RCMP and the general public for their vigilance and the information they were able to provide regarding the incident.

If there is a lesson in all of this, it's that people will take you seriously if you yell out that you're being kidnapped, and really, that's probably a good thing.