Viral Story of U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris' 2011 Hit-and-Run Crash Is Baseless
The Claim
Kamala Hit and Run Scandal: In June 2011, Kamala Harris hit two pedestrians in San Francisco and fled the scene. One victim, Alisha Brown, later revealed Harris's team threatened her mother to keep quiet. Alisha suffered severe injuries, leaving her paralyzed for life.
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Emerging story
A video report has recently circulated widely on social media, claiming that U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris was involved in a 2011 hit-and-run incident that left a 13-year-old girl, Alicia Brown, paralyzed.
An X user posted the footage with a caption that read, "Kamala Hit and Run Scandal: In June 2011, Kamala Harris hit two pedestrians in San Francisco and fled the scene. One victim, Alisha Brown, later revealed Harris's team threatened her mother to keep quiet. Alisha suffered severe injuries, leaving her paralyzed for life."
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar investigated the video report and found the story to be fake.
Misbar’s team found that the story originated from a suspicious, unreliable news website called KBSF-San Francisco News.
Baseless Story of Kamala Harris 2011 Hit-and-Run Crash
Despite the widespread circulation of the video on social media, the story is entirely fabricated.
Misbar's team conducted a thorough reverse image search of the report's main image and traced it back to a 2018 crash in Mangilao, Guam.
Moreover, Misbar's investigative team analyzed the X-rays featured in the viral video report. Through another reverse image search, we discovered that the images were taken from medical research articles published in 2010 and 2017.
The first X-ray depicts a pelvic ring injury in a 12-year-old girl.
The second X-ray shows a chest radiograph, highlighting fractures in the left sixth and seventh ribs (indicated by an arrow).
Kamala Harris vs. Donald Trump
Kamala Harris has become the Democratic Party's nominee, replacing President Joe Biden after he withdrew from the race. In her acceptance speech, Harris pledged to govern "for all Americans" and promised to "chart a new path forward" if she wins the November election.
As the current vice president, Harris holds the second-highest office in the U.S., just behind President Biden.
The U.S. presidential race polls shifted when Harris took over from Biden to challenge Donald Trump. While Biden had been trailing Trump nationally and in key swing states, Harris has gained around three points in national polls since becoming the nominee.
According to The Guardian’s poll tracker, which averages data over a 10-day period, Harris now holds a slight two-point national lead. However, when compared to previous elections, RealClearPolitics data shows Harris’s lead is smaller than Trump’s former opponents.
Misinformation Is Influencing the 2024 U.S. Election
As AI technology becomes more widespread, concerns about its influence on elections are growing. Experts fear that AI-generated content could mislead voters, spread false narratives, and skew public opinion. In the 2024 U.S. presidential election, hyper-realistic AI-generated images and videos have been at the center of controversy, blurring the line between satire and misinformation.
For instance, Elon Musk posted an AI-generated image depicting Kamala Harris as a communist dictator, following her campaign poster that referred to Donald Trump as a potential "dictator on day one" if re-elected. Musk also shared a viral AI-generated video of him and Trump dancing that the latter reposted.
Even pop star Taylor Swift was drawn into the AI content storm when Trump shared AI-generated images of women wearing "Swifties for Trump" t-shirts, implying her fans were backing his campaign.
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