Stockton driving teacher allegedly set up crashes for the insurance payouts

A Stockton man who works as a driving instructor has been accused of orchestrating about 20 car crashes and collecting more than $35,000 in the resulting insurance payouts.

He was arraigned Wednesday on 54 felony counts of insurance fraud, assault with a deadly weapon and reckless driving after a joint investigation by the California Department of Insurance and the San Joaquin County district attorney’s office, said a press release from the insurance agency.

The 43-year-old man is also a AAA tow truck driver, the statement said.

His procedure in most of the crashes was to drive in another driver’s blind spot and accelerate when the other vehicle started to change lanes, causing a collision, the investigators said.

From 2017 to 2022, the man claimed over $86,000 in damages and was paid more than $35,000 by insurance companies.

His dashcam videos of the crashes were reportedly included in his YouTube channel, Stockton Drivers. Most of the collision videos have been removed, the insurance agency said, but dozens of others remain under labels including “Bad Merge,” “Distracted Driver” and “People Can’t Wait.”