The perceptual phenomenon of “inattentional blindness” has been widely acknowledged in the scientific literature for 30 years. In addition to the laboratory-based examples, real-life examples appear in the literature. This paper provides a case study where a deputy sheriff’s patrol car collided with a fleeing motorcyclist – with unique circumstances – as recorded on in-car-camera (ICC) videos. Although the motorcyclist brought suit alleging the deputy intentionally collided with him, the deputy reported that he first noticed another deputy running after the motorcyclist prior to seeing the fleeing motorcyclist. However, the ICC video from the involved deputy’s patrol car strongly supports the motorcyclist was visible from the deputy’s perspective before the on-foot deputy appeared. The facts of this incident are compared to the widely accepted characteristics of inattentional blindness in exploring whether that perceptual phenomenon may have been at play in this case.
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