Man Arrested for Refusing to Tweet at Crowd

[antilycus]

The police have no right to tell me what to do. Its my right to make decisions NOT THEIRS. If they say put the gun to your head and pull the trigger, will you? If not, you'll get arrested.

 

[kingnoobe]

This guy should not be arrested. It looks like he did send out tweet message.

Even if he was signing autographs which so far there is no proof of that. He could've been told while doing it, but that just wouldn't make good news so of course they would have to leave that out.

The police are in the wrong on this one. IT'S THEIR JOB! To do crowd control not civilians.

 

[jerreece]

[citation][nom]nekatreven[/nom]It is an intriguing story considering that Twitter is a relatively new...well whatever Twitter is...but anyway I still think the cops were in the right. Especially if he really was also still promoting autographs and crap while they tried to clear the place out. People really can get badly hurt and it was their job to calm things down.You're welcome to disagree with me but in that case I'd suggest you've that forgotten the Wal-Mart employee that got trampled over the xbox, and I'd also suggest you don't know much about ravenous packs of teenage girls.[/citation]

I agree. I think it'll be interesting to see if the charges stand in court though. Could become new case law. However, if this guy was really still trying to promote the event (through his own greed) while Police were asking him to help alleviate the problem, then he deserves whatever punishment he gets.

 

[jerreece]

[citation][nom]kingnoobe[/nom]This guy should not be arrested. It looks like he did send out tweet message. Even if he was signing autographs which so far there is no proof of that. He could've been told while doing it, but that just wouldn't make good news so of course they would have to leave that out.The police are in the wrong on this one. IT'S THEIR JOB! To do crowd control not civilians.[/citation]

You're right, and wrong. It is the police department's job to maintain peace. However, this guy had notoriety and stature with the crowd. He could easily have announced the cancellation, which would have bummed out the little girls and they would have left. However, if the police showed up in riot gear and started shoving the crowd around, things could have turned violent, and someone could have become injured.

Think about it for a second. Which is a better option? Using force to remove a crowd, or using mass communication from the event's coordinator to advise the crowd that there was no longer any reason to be there.

I think the police were WELL within their rights to request this guy help alleviate the problem, to prevent mass pandemonium. If he did indeed continue to promote the event, thereby keeping the crowd on premises, then he's sorta helped instigate a riot if you will.

 

[Guest]

Most boring tech article I've read so far...

 

[zak_mckraken]

[citation][nom]bounty[/nom]So the police in Canada don't have megaphones?[/citation]
We have megaphones. Unfortunately, their reach doesn't get to NYC. We're working on that.

 

[Montezuma]

Talk about an absolutely illegal arrest. Law enforcement cannot, by law(U.S. Constitution and other documents), compel a citizen engage in actions of the government. These officers stepped outside of the bounds of their authority and they need to be called to the carpet for it.

I would sue the living shit out of the police department and the government that the department works for. It is not the duty of citizens to do law enforcement's job. Violating someone's right "under color of law" is a serious violation and will net the offending officers federal prison time.

 

[molskin]

What about natural selection and natural consequences? I mean... if you let your teen age daughter go to see a Canadian pop star then maybe you deserve to have your progeny trampled? eh?

ooh.. © first... great band name "Trampled Progeny".

 

[NegativeX]

Who?

 

[joebob2000]

[citation][nom]montezuma[/nom]Talk about an absolutely illegal arrest. Law enforcement cannot, by law(U.S. Constitution and other documents), compel a citizen engage in actions of the government. These officers stepped outside of the bounds of their authority and they need to be called to the carpet for it.I would sue the living shit out of the police department and the government that the department works for. It is not the duty of citizens to do law enforcement's job. Violating someone's right "under color of law" is a serious violation and will net the offending officers federal prison time.[/citation]

I could see it working something like this: "So you called on a fan base of a Top 40 star (a big deal in the US) to descend for an event onto a venue that isn't remotely prepared? OK, call them off or we will take you to jail"

The publicist (at least by the sound of it) was complicit to compromising public safety by his first action of (poorly) arranging the whole thing. He was offered a way out, if he could get the fans to dispel before it got ugly. He chose not to, and for that he is all the more complicit on item 1. This isn't a "to tweet or not to tweet" issue, it's a "you did something dangerous followed by something even MORE dangerous... jail4u"

 

[gmcboot]

[citation][nom]nekatreven[/nom].but anyway I still think the cops were in the right. Especially if he really was also still promoting autographs and crap while they tried to clear the place out. [/citation]

Sorry, that case will be thrown out for several reasons. You cannot arrest someone from not speaking or tweeting. As long as he did nothing further to promote the incoming crowd. Even if he did sign a few autographs, the police make themselves look stupid by arresting him for not tweeting. They should have pulled out the tazers on those girls, a little tear gas.. that would have sent them home or back into the theater for another round of Twilight.

 

[spanspace]

I have a feeling Nassau will be getting sued by that executive and will most likely win. Seriously asking him to use twitter. How many of those people have twitter? How does the police know they are all on twitter at that moment? Will the police use twitter going forward for every major riot that comes up? Is the Nassau police department secretly working with Twitter to promote the site? (Last line is an obvious joke)

 

[maydaynomore]

Whats Twitter?

 

[mr_tuel]

what about using a bull-horn(s) or megaphone(s)? Why could the police not tell people to leave??? Isn't that their JOB? Don't blame the star for their publicists mistakes.

 

[mr_tuel]

looks like I missed a detail, the cops apparently "attempted" to disperse the crowd. But Roppo did tweet, so this is all BS. That's kind of like saying I'm getting arrested for failure to appear, after appearing in court to pay a fine. He did what they wanted, what more could he have done (besides getting on loudspeakers of course)?

 

[greasydan]

[citation][nom]socrates047[/nom]nobody gives a fuck, seriously guys i have the case of the mondays. I look forward to some awesome computer news and what not and it when i get shit like this, no offense to justin or anyone; i am just pissed. fucking hate mondays[/citation]
Dude, So-Crates, this is a most un-excellent post.

 

[mofogo]

Hmm...the last place I saw police try to control the use of twitter for crowd control was in Iran.

 

[hixbot]

He shouldn't be arrested for not tweeting. but they should still arrest him for sucking.

 

[hixbot]

[citation][nom]bounty[/nom]So the police in Canada don't have megaphones?[/citation]
Fail. The guy is canadian, the event was in Long Island.

 

[zak_mckraken]

Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth... but only 3gb of RAM?

Good luck to those who can enter the contest!