A man in Texas is catching quite a bit of flak online for his proposal to his girlfriend. Vidal Valladares Navas proposed on Sunday to his girlfriend, Michelle, and in the process of doing so managed to briefly shut down I-45 in Houston. Navas told his girlfriend to get out of the car, and then dropped to one knee, stopping traffic and making many people very angry.
Navas explained that he didn't really think about how dangerous the proposal was, and was more focused on asking his girlfriend to marry him. (She said yes, by the way.)
To get to a party Navas made up as a ruse, the couple took the highway, which is one of Wycoff's favorite spots. Navas took her on a motorcycle ride on freeway on their second date.
That's when Navas told his girlfriend of a year and half to get out of the car.
"I said, 'Are you serious?'" Wycoff said. "Then I saw all my family and friends with cameras and I looked where Vidal was and he was down on one knee.
"Honestly, I didn't think about if it was a good idea or a bad idea. I was just so happy in the moment. I love him so much."
Navas said his friends and family, who were following closely behind, stopped traffic for about 35 seconds while he popped the question
"I never really thought about causing an accident. I thought about my girlfriend," he said.
Videos and photos of the proposal were shared on Instagram.
While the couple won't be charged with anything, the Houston Police aren't exactly thrilled and hope that this doesn't become a trend.
"It appears we were not called to the scene and it more than likely happened quickly before our officers saw it on patrol," HPD spokesman Victor Senties said. "While we're happy for the couple, this is not something we would want to encourage anyone to do. People could have lost their lives stopping on the freeway like that."
However, that won't necessarily be the case for any copy-cats.
"If there was a similar scenario and the officers were called to the scene to witness it, the officers would tell them to clear the roadway and if they refused, they could be arrested with blocking a roadway, which is a Class B misdemeanor," Senties said.
This story was currently the top post on Reddit at the time of publication, and Reddit users were not very pleased or amused by the couple's actions.
Public proposals can be fun, but this could have ended in tragedy--either the person proposing could have gotten hit by a car, or the sudden stoppage of traffic could have caused an accident or pile-up. This clearly wasn't the smartest decision ever made.
Plus, I'm not sure I'd want my first moments as an engaged person to involve the blaring horns of hundreds of angry cars trying to drive by. This act came across as far more narcissistic than romantic.
UPDATE: Charges have been filed against the couple.
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