The Hopkinton Police Department is asking for the public’s assistance as it investigates a suspicious video circulating online.

The video, seen on social media Thursday morning and reposted to the Hopkinton Police Department’s Facebook page, shows a suspicious individual walking into the middle of the road — apparently somewhere between Route 85 and Wilson Street — wearing what appears to be a construction vest and helmet. A passing car drives by and swerves to avoid this person.

In an email to the Independent early Thursday afternoon, HPD Deputy Chief Scott van Raalten stated: “[W]e cannot confirm the date, time, or exact location of the video at this time. We are attempting to contact the individual who made the original post to gather further information.”

The video was uploaded to the r/massachusetts forum of social media platform Reddit on June 4 by user “SadShock6569.” Timestamps on the video indicate it was taken the previous evening at 11:34 p.m.

“Driving home on this road off 85 in Hopkinton around 11:30 last night and this dude in a construction vest and hard hat holding a shovel is just walking onto the road in front of me,” SadShock6569 wrote in the post. They added that the individual appeared to be wearing a “Halloween mask” in addition to the construction gear.

The user also stated in their post that nothing else construction-related was in the immediate vicinity, and that the individual was walking down the shoulder and crossed when they saw the user’s car.

“Probably just some idiot trying to scare people but honestly that’s super dangerous and could’ve caused a serious crash,” SadShock6569 concluded.

Commenters on a second post about the incident on Reddit have speculated the video was staged or made using artificial intelligence.

The investigation is active and ongoing. Anyone with any information about this individual is asked to contact HPD at 508-497-3401.