A California man allegedly needed a smoke so badly after his car burst into flames on the highway that he decided to light his cigarette off of the fire—and wound up losing part of his eyebrows in the process, the Sacramento Bee reports.
According to the California Highway Patrol (CHP), 25-year-old Robert Quigley was speeding down the I-80 outside of Sacramento last Sunday afternoon when he smashed into the back of an SUV that was stopped in traffic. After Quigley pulled the car to the side of the highway, the smashed front end of his car reportedly caused a gasoline leak which ignited and turned the entire thing into a giant inferno.
Videos by VICE
Luckily, Quigley and a female passenger were able to get out of the vehicle in time. CHP arrived at the scene a few minutes later to find a possibly intoxicated—and now eyebrow-less—Quigley and the woman waiting near the car. The officer questioned Quigley and some nearby witnesses and quickly pieced together what happened.
First, a witness told the officer that they’d seen Quigley and the passenger try to swap seats in the vehicle so it looked like she was driving after the accident. Another said that Quigley had bolted back to the flaming car after the accident and tried to light his cigarette, hence the lack of eyebrows. Quigley eventually admitted that he’d been the one behind the wheel during the accident, and the cop arrested him for a potential DUI.
“Yeah, I’m not afraid of fire,” he bragged to the CHP officer, according to Fox 40. “I deal with this kind of stuff all the time.”
It’s unclear if Quigley meant he deals with flaming cars or car accidents or just creative methods for lighting up cigs “all the time,” but in any case, this isn’t the first time he’s had to deal with an alleged drunk driving arrest. CHP picked him up for a separate DUI just a few days earlier, FOX 40 reports.
The charred husk of Quigley’s car was towed away and Quigley was taken to Sacramento County Main Jail, where he’ll presumably get some time to mull over better driving practices and how long exactly it takes for eyebrows to grow back.
Sign up for our newsletter to get the best of VICE delivered to your inbox daily.
Follow VICE on Twitter.
