The suspect's vehicle was tracked using an AirPod, fell into it after the accident. Photo: Martin County Sheriff's Office.
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The accidental bouncing of a cyclist's AirPod after a horrific crash helped police track down the hit-and-run driver.
The New York Times report tells the story of 15-year-old Lochlan Nichol of Jensen Beach, Florida, who rode his bicycle to a gas station for ice cream on the evening of May 22, 2024. An SUV suddenly veered into a station driveway and caused the teenager to crash, sending Nicolas' head flying through the rear passenger window.
During the crash, one of the boy's AirPods fell out of the SUV and got stuck under the carpet. The driver stopped briefly, but only to remove the unconscious and seriously injured Nikol from the road, and then fled the scene.
Nicolas suffered fractures to his nose, cheekbone and eye socket, as well as a serious wound to his leg. The incident was reported to the police and Nikola was taken to hospital by helicopter.
After Nichols' girlfriend found out about the crash, she went to the crash site and found his wallet, phone, watch and AirPods case. She took the items to the hospital and noticed that there was only one AirPod in the case.
Nichol was wearing a different AirPod when the accident occurred, but it could not be recovered. When the teen later opened Find My to try to find the AirPod, it showed it was at an address about four miles from the crime scene.
We contacted the police and Nichol provided information.
“It was this earpiece that provided geographic tracking of the suspect's home in Jensen Beach,” a sheriff's spokesman said. “There is no moral to this story. It was one of those things. It was a good break for us, a really good break.”
Tracking information provided by the AirPod allowed police to drive to the Jensen Beach address in a silver Hyundai Santa Fe with a broken passenger-side rear window. The owner, 49-year-old Peter Bradford Swing, was arrested and the dropped AirPod was found.
He later admitted to police that he fled the scene because he had previously been in prison on drug charges. Swing now faces up to 15 years in prison for allegedly failing to stop at the scene of an accident and causing great bodily harm, a felony.
“It's amazing, to be honest,” said Lochlan's father, Derek Nichol. “People say it's karma. So maybe it's karma that this happened. It's just weird.”
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