Weird Things People Have Been Arrested For

Guess next time he’ll wait for Christmas morning

Let’s be honest, at one point or another, those of us who celebrate Christmas have probably snooped for presents or shaken gift boxes to try to get a hint of what’s inside or begged our parents to let us open a present early. And then there are some folks like one 12-year-old South Carolina boy who had the audacity to open a present early, finding a Gameboy inside and, at the same time, earning the ire of his mom. By the way, she promptly called the cops on him.

Yes, you read that right. The boy’s 27 year old mother phoned the police after the kid opened the present without her permission, and they actually arrested him for petty larceny. The best (worst?) part is, his mom actually wanted him to get arrested. There was no “sorry officer, this is just a big misunderstanding” coming out of her. Nope, she actually wanted the cops to teach him a lesson. So in the future, screw trying to be good for Santa. Now you’ve got to worry about the fuzz, too.

He must have eaten at Taco Bell for lunch

Of course, opening presents is one thing. But can you imagine getting arrested for having bodily functions? I’m not talking about relieving your bladder in a parking garage or taking a dump on the steps of City Hall. No, I’m talking about farting. Next time you eat Mexican food you may want to reconsider, because apparently farting can get you busted.

Such was the case for a 13 year old boy from Florida who found himself slapped in handcuffs after dropping a few bombs in class. Or, as the cops called it, “disrupting a school function.” All I can say is that he must have had some really brutal gas. And, in addition, we’re just glad that there were no cops prowling around the classrooms while we were in school, because most of us would likely still be doing a stretch.

Maybe he should think about changing his name

It must really suck to be named Michael Terry. Oh sure, it doesn’t sound like a bad name, really. In fact, it’s pretty run of the mill. For one particular Michael Terry, maybe that’s the source of the problem. This particular Michael Terry was a 37 year old from New York City who found himself in jail for 28 days… for having the same name as a guy who was a wanted fugitive. Oops. Turns out that the NYPD arrested this Michael Terry for crimes committed by a different Michael Terry and kept him locked up for nearly a month until they realized their mistake, and subsequently awarded him $120,000 in grievances.

And then they arrested him again. For the exact same reason. Yes, it seems that some other cops also figured that there could only be one black guy named Michael Terry, and they strip searched him and tossed him back in the slammer for five more days before, once again, realizing their mistake. Let’s just cross our fingers that this guy never gets pulled over for speeding, because odds are the NYPD will view it as a third strike and lock him up for good.

He should stick to basketball

Recently, much of the northeastern part of America, stretching down to Maryland and Virginia, was blanketed with record snowfall. The “Snowpocalypse” as some called it. Naturally, in some of the places where snow is not quite so common, such as certain areas of Virginia, people of all ages reveled in the white powdery stuff (snow, not cocaine… keep up, genius) and made snowmen, snow angels, and engaged in snowball fights. They might have thought twice about that last one if they’d know it could lead to being arrested.

Did you realize that, apparently, throwing snowballs can get you slapped in handcuffs? Neither did Ryan Knight, a point guard on the James Madison University basketball team. But when the snow hit, Knight and his friends went out and started throwing snowballs. Now we should point out they were throwing them (playfully) at snow plows and passing cars. It just so happened that one of those cars was an unmarked police car, and apparently the cop driving it had a great distaste for harmless fun, arresting Knight and a friend on the spot. The charge? “Throwing a missile at an occupied vehicle.” I don’t even have a joke for that, especially since the pair face up to five years in prison if convicted. So next time you’re out frolicking in the snow, just remember: frolicking is seriously frowned upon in some parts of the US.

Granny hates two-hand touch

Raise your hand if you’ve ever tossed a baseball , football or Frisbee or kicked around a soccer ball with some friends, and it’s gone into someone else’s yard. Usually that’s kind of a no-harm, no-foul thing, right? Sure, every once in awhile you’ll run into some crotchety old hag who, being on the receiving end of some unwanted ball action, will pick it up and not give it back. You know, because she’s a crotchety old hag. Well Edna Jester is just such a hag. Only she probably figured she wouldn’t get arrested for it.

But that’s precisely what happened when, completely fed up with having to chase down the ball over and over for her teenage neighbors when it landed in her yard, the 88-year-old grandmother finally refused to give it back. See, her young neighbors would often toss the ball around and it would come flying into her yard while she was eating dinner or reading the Bible (we’re not making that part up), and she was just sick and tired of having to chase the ball down or having the kids come onto her property to retrieve it themselves. So when she just decided to keep it to stop them from bugging her in the future. The cops showed up and threatened to arrest her if she didn’t give it back. So did she? Let’s just say that by the time she went to trial, the ball was still in her house.