404 Media⁠48%

Cops Say Waymo Snitched on Teens for Allegedly Drinking and Shooting a Toy Gun ⁠51%

By Samantha Cole⁠61%

7/7/2026, 9:06:31 AM

BS Summary: This article contains 23 faulty reasoning types, including Appeal to Authority, Ambiguity (Equivocation), and Hasty Generalization, with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 43.7% saturation with 135 hits. Analysis detected 955 faulty-reasoning hits from 309 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 50.4% and a BS Rank of ⁠51% (10,914 of 21,887 articles). This article is worse (more manipulative) than 50.10% of the article peer group.

A Waymo in California allegedly called the cops on two teenagers for “drinking and shooting from the vehicle,” according to local police. 
On Monday, the San Mateo Police Department posted on Facebook: “Parents do you know where your teens are? 
@waymo does!” 
The police department continued in the post: “Two 15 year olds up to trouble in a Waymo this afternoon were detained after Waymo reported they were drinking and shooting from the vehicle. 
After calling us and stopping the car, we were able to safely remove both subjects and determined they were shooting Orbeez from the car as they sipped on afternoon libations while being chauffeured around town in the driverless vehicle.” 
In a video posted by the police, several officers approached the Waymo vehicle with guns drawn. 
Orbeez are polymer beads that expand and become squishy when wet. 
The police department’s Facebook post doesn’t clarify what the teens were “shooting” from, but implied that they were using toy guns, water guns, or BB guns. 
A photo on the post shows a painted-over SplatRBall toy gun, which shoots water beads. 
The police also posted a photo of two Powerade bottles full of orange water beads. 
“Shooting projectiles at speed can cause real damage. 
And lest not[sic] forget the underage drinking. 
All bad ideas today for these two. 
Well, the Waymo might have been the smartest idea yet, because driving impaired would’ve made this so much worse,” San Mateo police wrote. 
Waymo, which is owned by Google, says on a support page that its support team “may review video under certain circumstances, including after an issue is brought to our attention,” and “in more urgent circumstances, Support may access live video during a trip.” 
Waymo did not immediately respond to 404 Media’s request for comment. 
Article reasoning-pattern comparisonThis article: 10.4%Samantha Cole: 3.0%404 Media: 3.5%Confirmation Bias10.4%This article: 8.4%Samantha Cole: 0.6%404 Media: 0.9%Anchoring Bias8.4%This article: 14.9%Samantha Cole: 4.4%404 Media: 3.8%Availability Heuristic14.9%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 1.5%404 Media: 1.6%Representativeness Heuristic0.0%This article: 7.4%Samantha Cole: 0.7%404 Media: 0.5%Hindsight Bias7.4%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 1.2%404 Media: 2.8%Overconfidence Bias0.0%This article: 18.1%Samantha Cole: 4.6%404 Media: 5.6%Framing Effect18.1%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 0.3%404 Media: 0.4%Loss Aversion0.0%This article: 13.9%Samantha Cole: 1.4%404 Media: 0.6%Status Quo Bias13.9%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 0.5%404 Media: 0.2%Sunk Cost Effect0.0%This article: 7.4%Samantha Cole: 5.3%404 Media: 2.8%Optimism Bias7.4%This article: 12.6%Samantha Cole: 2.5%404 Media: 1.6%Pessimism Bias12.6%This article: 43.7%Samantha Cole: 16.1%404 Media: 11.5%Negativity Bias43.7%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 1.0%404 Media: 0.9%Self-Serving Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 1.1%404 Media: 0.7%Fundamental Attribution Error0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 0.2%404 Media: 0.1%Actor-Observer Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 3.1%404 Media: 0.8%In-Group Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 1.0%404 Media: 0.3%Out-Group Homogeneity Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 1.1%404 Media: 1.0%Halo Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 0.9%404 Media: 0.2%Horn Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 0.0%404 Media: 0.0%Dunning-Kruger Effect0.0%This article: 3.6%Samantha Cole: 1.7%404 Media: 1.0%Recency Bias3.6%This article: 4.5%Samantha Cole: 0.7%404 Media: 0.3%Primacy Effect4.5%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 0.1%404 Media: 0.0%Blind-Spot Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 0.6%404 Media: 0.3%Ad Hominem0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 0.4%404 Media: 0.3%Straw Man0.0%This article: 31.4%Samantha Cole: 3.5%404 Media: 3.3%Appeal to Authority31.4%This article: 7.4%Samantha Cole: 1.5%404 Media: 1.3%False Dilemma7.4%This article: 7.4%Samantha Cole: 2.0%404 Media: 1.2%Slippery Slope7.4%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 0.2%404 Media: 0.2%Circular Reasoning0.0%This article: 18.8%Samantha Cole: 11.4%404 Media: 7.8%Hasty Generalization18.8%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 0.0%404 Media: 0.3%Red Herring0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 0.6%404 Media: 0.7%Bandwagon0.0%This article: 10.7%Samantha Cole: 10.3%404 Media: 4.8%Appeal to Emotion10.7%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 0.7%404 Media: 0.7%Begging the Question0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 1.8%404 Media: 2.0%Post Hoc (False Cause)0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 0.7%404 Media: 0.1%Tu Quoque0.0%This article: 10.7%Samantha Cole: 0.2%404 Media: 0.5%Burden of Proof10.7%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 0.5%404 Media: 0.4%Appeal to Nature0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 0.3%404 Media: 0.2%Composition/Division0.0%This article: 9.7%Samantha Cole: 3.8%404 Media: 2.9%Anecdotal9.7%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 0.3%404 Media: 0.1%No True Scotsman0.0%This article: 21.7%Samantha Cole: 2.5%404 Media: 2.1%Ambiguity (Equivocation)21.7%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 0.0%404 Media: 0.0%Gambler’s Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 0.2%404 Media: 0.1%Middle Ground0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 0.2%404 Media: 0.1%Personal Incredulity0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 0.1%404 Media: 0.1%Special Pleading0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 0.2%404 Media: 0.1%Genetic Fallacy0.0%This article: 9.4%Samantha Cole: 2.1%404 Media: 2.6%Unattributed Quote9.4%This article: 5.8%Samantha Cole: 2.1%404 Media: 1.6%Quote-first Misdirection5.8%This article: 17.2%Samantha Cole: 14.8%404 Media: 11.5%Biased Writer Voice17.2%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 3.3%404 Media: 1.5%Indoctrination0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 0.6%404 Media: 0.6%Politically Left Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Samantha Cole: 0.1%404 Media: 0.0%Politically Right Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 13.9%Samantha Cole: 1.2%404 Media: 2.9%Attempt to Sell a Product or S…13.9%

309 words analyzed.

Speakers

2speakers58%attributed speech130writer words
Voice mapSelect a segment to jump to its words
Writer's voice • 14 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 22 words • 100.0% coverageSan Mateo Police Department • 18 words • 100.0% coverageSan Mateo Police Department • 2 words • 0.0% coverageSan Mateo Police Department • 32 words • 100.0% coverageSan Mateo Police Department • 39 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 16 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 11 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 26 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 15 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 15 words • 0.0% coverageSan Mateo Police Department • 8 words • 0.0% coverageSan Mateo Police Department • 7 words • 100.0% coverageSan Mateo Police Department • 7 words • 100.0% coverageSan Mateo Police Department • 23 words • 0.0% coverageWaymo • 43 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 11 words • 0.0% coverage
100%flagged-word coverage
136 attributed words76% of attributed speech92% writer coverage
0%15.0%30.0%Biased Writer Voice+17.9 ptsWriter: 10.8%San Mateo Police Department: 28.7%28.7%Unattributed Quote-11.8 ptsWriter: 16.9%San Mateo Police Department: 5.1%5.1%Quote-first Misdirection+13.2 ptsWriter: 0.0%San Mateo Police Department: 13.2%13.2%

Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.

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Analysis

Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.