It’s embarrassing and infuriating when one gets arrested. What is even worse is getting arrested for a crime you didn’t know exists. Imagine going through your normal life and doing your normal things then a policeman from nowhere comes and arrests you for doing something you’ve been doing all your life. Or even playing an innocent joke on someone then you are told there is a law against that. There are things you need to think twice before doing if you want to be on the right side of the law. Have a look at 10 weird things that could get you arrested.
10. Charging Your Phone on a Train
45 year old Robin Lee from North London was arrested for charging his iPhone on a London over ground train. A policeman approached him and accused him of taking the electricity illegally. He was handcuffed, thrown in a police van and taken to the local police station. The crime was ‘abstracting electricity’ which in England can get one imprisoned for five years. Apparently the sockets in the train were not for public use but are only supposed to be used by cleaners.
9. Pretending to be a Ghost
Making ghostly noises happens to be a crime, especially in graveyards. This is what Anthony Stallard learnt after he was arrested at Kingston Cemetary, in Portsmouth. After having a few drinks Stallard went to the graveyard with his friend Martin Collingwood and they started kicking a football. Stallard was seen throwing himself backwards, waving his arms and saying ‘woooooo’ which authorities translated to ‘pretending to be a ghost’. He was charged with ‘using threatening or abusive words or behavior likely to cause distress’. He was fined 75 pounds by the court.
8. T-Shirt Written ‘I Have Drugs’
It’s a bad thing to commit a crime, but it’s worse and stupid to wear a T-shirt indicating what criminal activity you are into. A 50 year old John Balmer from Florida attracted police with his T-Shirt that read ‘Who needs drugs? No, seriously, I have drugs’. This was not a prank or a joke as it was later found out that he was carrying marijuana and methamphetamine. At least he learnt that one does not advertise a criminal activity and if you have to advertise, don’t use a T-Shirt.
7. Comparing your president to a Movie Character
Rifat Cetin was sentenced to one year in jail for comparing the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Gollum – a character from Lord of the rings. Another man Bilgin Ciftci was charged for sharing the images. The accused had said that they had not committed any crime and so the court had to decide whether Gollum’s character was good or evil. An expert panel was appointed to investigate the character in Lord of the Ring’s film series. In Turkey insulting the president is a crime and one can face up to four years in jail.
6. Farting on a Person
Lawrence Michael Jonap, a 45 year old policeman from Lago Vista Police Department in Texas was arrested for hitting and farting on a fellow officer’s face. The crimes happened in two days. On the first day Jonap walked to the victim, kicked him while laughing. The second day Jonap hit him with a notebook on the head, flicked his ear and farted in his face. Jonap was charged with ‘assault with injury’ a crime that can lead to a one year sentence and a fine of 4,000 dollars.
5. Aggressively Mopping Floor
30 year old John Thornton was arrested at a hotel in Bristol, Connecticut for what police called ‘aggressively mopping the floor’. Thornton was said to have grabbed a mop from a 27 female employee of the hotel with which he began to mop the floor. His mopping was so aggressive that he mopped over the lady’s shoes several times. She tried to tell him to stop but Thornton backed into her and forcibly pushed her into a corner. Charges included ‘disturbing peace’ and ‘second-degree threatening’.
4. Breaking into Jail
Monique Deshawn Armstrong, a 22 year old lady from Colorado, broke into jail to free her brother who had been arrested. She drove to the Mesa County Jail at 4 in the morning and attempted to get through razor wires and cell windows. The perimeter fence alarm sounded and the police came, found her car and traced her. She was caught, arrested and charged with criminal trespass, criminal mischief and violating bail-bond conditions. Her brother was released on bond just five hours later.
3. Kidnapping a Pet Spider
A 26 year old Bryan Paul Smith from Leavenworth, Kansas was charged after he had kidnapped his friend’s spider. He had been watching the pet spider at his house for a friend and when the pet owner asked for his spider back, Smith began making demands for money and indicated that he wanted to keep the spider. Smith demanded that the victim should give him $100 and the spider otherwise he would shoot him. The victim called the police who arrested Smith. He was found guilty and ordered to serve 14 months in jail for the crime.
2. Giving Wedgies
18 year old Charles Ross from Bradenton, Florida is known for videotaping pranks and posting the videos on YouTube. He was however arrested one time for giving wedgies outside a Florida movie theater. Police said that Ross grabbed people by the back of the pants and pulled them up hard. He was arrested on battery charges. Ross agreed with the charges and apologized to anyone he offended as he was only playing a joke. A few victims filed statements but many were too embarrassed to come forward according to the police.
1. Look-Out Parrot
A parrot from Colombia named Lorenzo was arrested and charged for warning members of a drug cartel when they were about to be caught. The parrot is said to have been sending out alerts as police were conducting an undercover raid. The warning were in Spanish and translated to “Run, run, the cat is going to get you!”. The police said the Lorenzo was one of about 1700 parrots arrested for being trained to act as lookouts for drug traffickers. Even after been warned by the parrot, two men were arrested.