Mayor of Town in Peru Pretends to Be Dead to Dodge Arrest for Violating COVID-19 Lockdown Rules

Jaime Rolando Urbina Torres, mayor of Tantará, was out with friends drinking while the town was under lockdown, so he pretended to be dead to avoid arrest.

Employees of Bestattung Himmelblau undertakers rehearse livestream of upcoming funeral.
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Image via Getty/Thomas Kronsteiner

Employees of Bestattung Himmelblau undertakers rehearse livestream of upcoming funeral.

Jaime Rolando Urbina Torres, mayor of Tantará, a small town in Peru, was hanging out with friends drinking on Monday night when police arrived to enforce a country-wide lockdown. To avoid being detained for curfew and social distancing violations due to COVID-19, an inebriated Torres pretended to be dead while his friends did the more logical thing of hiding in nearby drawers, the New York Postreports

Torres allowed this stunt to go a little too far because police even shared a photo of him lying in a coffin with his eyes closed, and a mask over his face. 

Torres was eventually arrested, adding to the laundry list of criticism he has come under since Peru went under lockdown more than two months ago. He has been accused of breaking quarantine rules in the past, and leaving town in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic.

Peru has the 12th most coronavirus cases in the world, as of Thursday, with over 108,000. More than 3,100 have died from the virus. 

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