Artist Arrested For Planting "Fake Bombs" In NY

[McMullen]

this is just sad. seeing how the police is just wasting time and resources on a non-threat makes me wander if they are incompetent or simply retarded.

The police are legally obliged to respond to ANY call, regardless of possibility.

OT: Artist gets crazy idea, artist DOES crazy idea, turns out crazy idea is illegal, artist gets arrested. Pretty open and shut case if you ask me.

captcha: Oh brother.

Amen sister, amen.

We could call it an open and shut case, if we liked to pretend the world is a simple place and that things that are illegal must be wrong simply because they're illegal.

Or, maybe we could not assume that lawmakers are above making mistakes, and interpret this as a sign that the law might benefit from some adjustment, as laws occasionally have in the past, and discuss that possibility.

 

[Rainboq]

this is just sad. seeing how the police is just wasting time and resources on a non-threat makes me wander if they are incompetent or simply retarded.

The police are legally obliged to respond to ANY call, regardless of possibility.

OT: Artist gets crazy idea, artist DOES crazy idea, turns out crazy idea is illegal, artist gets arrested. Pretty open and shut case if you ask me.

captcha: Oh brother.

Amen sister, amen.

We could call it an open and shut case, if we liked to pretend the world is a simple place and that things that are illegal must be wrong simply because they're illegal.

Or, maybe we could not assume that lawmakers are above making mistakes, and interpret this as a sign that the law might benefit from some adjustment, as laws occasionally have in the past, and discuss that possibility.

You need to have a license to put up displays like that, to avoid sh*t like this. He broke the law by not having one.

 

[McMullen]

this is just sad. seeing how the police is just wasting time and resources on a non-threat makes me wander if they are incompetent or simply retarded.

The police are legally obliged to respond to ANY call, regardless of possibility.

OT: Artist gets crazy idea, artist DOES crazy idea, turns out crazy idea is illegal, artist gets arrested. Pretty open and shut case if you ask me.

captcha: Oh brother.

Amen sister, amen.

We could call it an open and shut case, if we liked to pretend the world is a simple place and that things that are illegal must be wrong simply because they're illegal.

Or, maybe we could not assume that lawmakers are above making mistakes, and interpret this as a sign that the law might benefit from some adjustment, as laws occasionally have in the past, and discuss that possibility.

You need to have a license to put up displays like that, to avoid sh*t like this. He broke the law by not having one.

Then I would expect him to be charged with whatever they call it when a person posts a display without a permit. Maybe that falls under the banner of "public nuisance". Even so, if his crime was not obtaining a permit, why is he also charged with planting false bombs, a thing that he did not expressly do but that other people assumed he was doing?

That is the problem here. I have no issue with him getting in trouble for not having a permit. What bothers me is that you can get arrested not for doing something, but for people assuming you've done that thing, even after it has been irrefutably demonstrated that you did not. It is known the bags weren't bombs, and it is known they weren't intended to be mistaken for bombs, yet he's being charged as if that was his intent. That charge shouldn't have been made. I do not see much sanity in what's going on here, so if this is the standard procedure, then I think the procedure needs to be amended.

 

[Lord_Ascendant]

In their defense it was a slow night and they just really wanted to arrest someone so their boss would stop yelling at them.

My captcha image today says "kiss me"...I get the feeling either someone at captcha or at the Escapist is watching me...*tinfoil hat* Also I almost typed "Out in the milky twilight" yup now thats in my head, thanks captcha.

 

[Rainboq]

this is just sad. seeing how the police is just wasting time and resources on a non-threat makes me wander if they are incompetent or simply retarded.

The police are legally obliged to respond to ANY call, regardless of possibility.

OT: Artist gets crazy idea, artist DOES crazy idea, turns out crazy idea is illegal, artist gets arrested. Pretty open and shut case if you ask me.

captcha: Oh brother.

Amen sister, amen.

We could call it an open and shut case, if we liked to pretend the world is a simple place and that things that are illegal must be wrong simply because they're illegal.

Or, maybe we could not assume that lawmakers are above making mistakes, and interpret this as a sign that the law might benefit from some adjustment, as laws occasionally have in the past, and discuss that possibility.

You need to have a license to put up displays like that, to avoid sh*t like this. He broke the law by not having one.

Then I would expect him to be charged with whatever they call it when a person posts a display without a permit. Maybe that falls under the banner of "public nuisance". Even so, if his crime was not obtaining a permit, why is he also charged with planting false bombs, a thing that he did not expressly do but that other people assumed he was doing?

That is the problem here. I have no issue with him getting in trouble for not having a permit. What bothers me is that you can get arrested not for doing something, but for people assuming you've done that thing, even after it has been irrefutably demonstrated that you did not. It is known the bags weren't bombs, and it is known they weren't intended to be mistaken for bombs, yet he's being charged as if that was his intent. That charge shouldn't have been made. I do not see much sanity in what's going on here, so if this is the standard procedure, then I think the procedure needs to be amended.

*shrugs* If that's what the on duty officer thought it looked like, that's what he got charged with. The cop's just trying to do his job.

 

[weirdee]

The lesson to take away here is that if you get enough people to call in things that look suspicious, you can get anybody arrested for doing anything if you can draw the weakest connection to it.

For all of the "doing their job" that these folks are just abiding by, the mooninite scare also got a good man fired, and led to cartoon network's "real cn" series which was a colossal failure on many sides, not to mention almost destroyed toonami and left us with that series "level up" which we may or may not all agree is the most terrible abomination to happen to gaming culture since all of the hackneyed jokes that it is comprised of were spawned. We can only hope that nobody of the intended viewing age, which is admittedly vague, thinks that the show accurately portrays anything it is trying to do.

You could argue that the connection between what cops do and the ruining of an entire network is weak, but that's roughly the same amount of validity present in these bogus bomb claims, and enabling citizens to report bomb claims without reasonable cause.

 

[McMullen]

this is just sad. seeing how the police is just wasting time and resources on a non-threat makes me wander if they are incompetent or simply retarded.

The police are legally obliged to respond to ANY call, regardless of possibility.

OT: Artist gets crazy idea, artist DOES crazy idea, turns out crazy idea is illegal, artist gets arrested. Pretty open and shut case if you ask me.

captcha: Oh brother.

Amen sister, amen.

We could call it an open and shut case, if we liked to pretend the world is a simple place and that things that are illegal must be wrong simply because they're illegal.

Or, maybe we could not assume that lawmakers are above making mistakes, and interpret this as a sign that the law might benefit from some adjustment, as laws occasionally have in the past, and discuss that possibility.

You need to have a license to put up displays like that, to avoid sh*t like this. He broke the law by not having one.

Then I would expect him to be charged with whatever they call it when a person posts a display without a permit. Maybe that falls under the banner of "public nuisance". Even so, if his crime was not obtaining a permit, why is he also charged with planting false bombs, a thing that he did not expressly do but that other people assumed he was doing?

That is the problem here. I have no issue with him getting in trouble for not having a permit. What bothers me is that you can get arrested not for doing something, but for people assuming you've done that thing, even after it has been irrefutably demonstrated that you did not. It is known the bags weren't bombs, and it is known they weren't intended to be mistaken for bombs, yet he's being charged as if that was his intent. That charge shouldn't have been made. I do not see much sanity in what's going on here, so if this is the standard procedure, then I think the procedure needs to be amended.

*shrugs* If that's what the on duty officer thought it looked like, that's what he got charged with. The cop's just trying to do his job.

If you were on his jury, would you vote to convict him?

EDIT: Of the false bomb charge I mean?

 

[Rainboq]

this is just sad. seeing how the police is just wasting time and resources on a non-threat makes me wander if they are incompetent or simply retarded.

The police are legally obliged to respond to ANY call, regardless of possibility.

OT: Artist gets crazy idea, artist DOES crazy idea, turns out crazy idea is illegal, artist gets arrested. Pretty open and shut case if you ask me.

captcha: Oh brother.

Amen sister, amen.

We could call it an open and shut case, if we liked to pretend the world is a simple place and that things that are illegal must be wrong simply because they're illegal.

Or, maybe we could not assume that lawmakers are above making mistakes, and interpret this as a sign that the law might benefit from some adjustment, as laws occasionally have in the past, and discuss that possibility.

You need to have a license to put up displays like that, to avoid sh*t like this. He broke the law by not having one.

Then I would expect him to be charged with whatever they call it when a person posts a display without a permit. Maybe that falls under the banner of "public nuisance". Even so, if his crime was not obtaining a permit, why is he also charged with planting false bombs, a thing that he did not expressly do but that other people assumed he was doing?

That is the problem here. I have no issue with him getting in trouble for not having a permit. What bothers me is that you can get arrested not for doing something, but for people assuming you've done that thing, even after it has been irrefutably demonstrated that you did not. It is known the bags weren't bombs, and it is known they weren't intended to be mistaken for bombs, yet he's being charged as if that was his intent. That charge shouldn't have been made. I do not see much sanity in what's going on here, so if this is the standard procedure, then I think the procedure needs to be amended.

*shrugs* If that's what the on duty officer thought it looked like, that's what he got charged with. The cop's just trying to do his job.

If you were on his jury, would you vote to convict him?

EDIT: Of the false bomb charge I mean?

I'm an empiricist, plus rules as written, so it'd depend on the evidence.

 

[Royas]

Oh, for crying out loud. Arrested because somebody else might think the bags might possibly be bombs? That's pretty damned flimsy, unless he made some kind of effort to make them look like bombs, it's obvious he wasn't placing "false bombs". Littering, maybe. Public nuisance, possibly. Vandalism, perhaps. Terrorist activities? I don't think so.

People are just way to paranoid and scared today. What happened to our balls, when did they get removed? I don't recall this level of craven cowardice in the population from when I was younger.

 

[ObsidianJones_v1legacy]

If I were a ruder sort... oh, I'll leave it at that.

I take it a lot of you are not New Yorkers, eh? Ok.

May 2nd 2010, there was a failed attack in Times Square, one of the busiest parts of the world. Even at 4 am, there's a good deal of people walking around.

Not to long after that, the police raided a home in Queens that held a terrorist sleeper who was actively creating bombs to carry out attacks on the subway system. At least ten million people per day use that system.

Speaking of said system, there are billboards, posters, and stickers all over public transit that say 'if you see something, say something.'

This, as the callous and far removed denizens of the net who only wish for more things to lay snark upon do not care to see, was not a well thought out 'art movement'. This is calling out 'FIRE' in a crowded movie theater. You will be arrested for inciting a panic if you do that. Say that the average elderly woman on the street just happens not to be as brave as you. Shame on her, I know, but she's read of the foiled attacks, remembers the towers falling, and has read those 'see something, say something' posters time and time again.

She is confronted with an odd package that is blinking. Her mind races. It fears. She screams. Other people come to see what she's screaming about. Panic spreads.

That is just as likely and 'reasonable' as someone walking by and thinking nothing of it, as I'm sure a few people did. Like the article said, only one person called 311 because he was unsure of the situation.

I know it's cool to look down on your intellectual lessers, but really, it would take only a spark to create a fire. If I could be arrested for yelling fire in a theater because of the potential danger that I might cause from the fear reaction, he as well should be arrested because of said fear reaction that could arose for any of the literal millions of different perceptions and bravery levels of those people who could have seen it.

 

[SuperTrainStationH]

Bombs don't have flashing lights to attract people to them.

Bombs aren't planted in places that are intended to be seen or noticed.

Bombs are not hung out of reach and contact from where people will actually be to get blasted by them.

Some people over-react to benign things and allow themselves to live in fear, and when that happens, the terrorists win.

I'm a New Yorker. My aunt worked in the World Trade Center and my uncle was a first responder and is permanently ill from inhaling the ground zero debris dust.

 

[antidonkey]

I love how doing something legal can get you arrested because other people might freak the fuck out over it. At most, this guy should be fined for littering.

 

[Wierdguy]

Do the snipz!

Dude... your name is freakishly similar to mine

Thought for a brief second I had been hacked and someone was using my account to comment on random stuff.