Police arrest exec for not using Twitter

No, this isn't The Onion.

But just look at that headline and wonder how it could possibly be true.

Well, according to Newsday, Canadian teen sensation Justin Bieber was due to conduct an album signing at the Roosevelt Field mall in Garden City, N.Y.

It seems that thousands of teenage girls turned up to mob the wondrous teen hope, a happening perhaps so frightening that Bieber did not turn up.

The Nassau County police became rather concerned that the crowd might break the glass in store windows with its shrieking. (The official word seems to have been "unruly," but teenage girls are never really that.)

So they asked a senior vice president from Island Def Jam Records (Bieber's record label), James A. Roppo, to do what record label executives often do when solving a difficult situation: tweet.

However, he is alleged to have not complied with this endearing request and thus found himself arrested, pending charges that might, according to the police, comprise criminal nuisance, endangering the welfare of a minor, and obstructing government administration.

Kevin Smith of the Nassau County Police told the AP: "We asked for his help in getting the crowd to go away by sending out a Twitter message. By not cooperating with us, we feel he put lives in danger and the public at risk."

What is somewhat peculiar is that a tweet was sent from Justin Bieber's account around the time of the arrest, reading: "they are not allowing me to come into the mall. if you don't leave, I and my fans will be arrested, as the police just told us."

Bieber followed this message up with another tweet pleading for the high-pitched wailers to disperse, just three minutes later.

All this occurred Friday. And, thanks to Bieber himself, I have embedded YouTube footage of the melee at the mall.

Bieber posted a link to this footage Saturday and tweeted, "wow. this upsets me. the mall should of had proper security. They wouldnt let me in! Gotta make this right 4 the fans."

Well, yes, it should of. Just look at the worried faces of the parents. Just listen to the screams of the aficionadas. This is the kind of nightmare many will have experienced after a large tub of dulce de leche eaten well past midnight.

I cannot imagine what Roppo might have said to the police in order to incite their wrath. However, looking at this footage, I suspect that something like "Look at these people!!!! They're outta their minds!!! You really think a tweet is going to stop them from screaming?!!!" might have been part of the dialogue.

It is also pleasantly reassuring that the mall staff appears, near the end of the footage, to have resorted to analog crowd dispersal means. Yes, someone found a loudhailer.

However, I can find no record of any arrests from the scene other than Roppo's. And certainly, no one else appears to have been arrested for refusing to tweet.

Therefore, this truly seems to be a world first. One can only look forward to the day when someone's Facebook friends cause them to be arrested for not updating their status.

[EvanSei]

WOW! Thank god that was not happening were I live. This sort of thing ranks right up there with the
wal-mart black friday tramplings ;)

[xaduurv]

Ye GODS that's insane!

[Lerianis3]

No, not really..... you have to remember that we are talking about TEENAGE GIRLS here, and nothing is really 'insane' with them.

[DatabaseDoctor]

Chris:

The words are "should have" not "should of". You might have have heard the contraction "should've" but it is not "should of". I do enjoy your posts but this one drove me crazy with the improper English. As an advisor to major corporations on content creation and marketing, I would've expected better.

This is a quote from Bieber, not Chris' words

[joevai52]

DatabaseDoctor, you beat me to it. I too enjoy this blog. I can only hope that it was some sort of typo and that he doesn't actually think "should of" is the correct phrase.

This wasn't a quote; the quote ended at the end of the previous paragraph. It was simply a mistake by Chris.

[pjhenry1216]

::sigh:: it is a quote... kinda. He's responding to Bieber's misuse of the phrase. He was poking fun at his bad grammar. However, I suppose some folks don't have a really good grasp on reading comprehension. I'll admit it was somewhat subtle, but its ambiguous enough that you should have felt there's a chance you may be wrong for calling him out on it or at least do so with a bit more respect.

[inferno2000]

SIGH. It feels good to know I'm not the only one who cares about such things. Phonetic writing is constantly invading the lexicon, and people pick up the bad examples if there's no correcting influence. In this case, people constantly hear people say "should 'ave" and guess the spelling incorrectly.

[ChrisMatyszczyk]

@DatabaseDoctor,

PJHenry1216 has it right. And, as he's been around here for a while, he should of.

Chris

[6stringluke]

While it poorly translates to the written word, I believe Chris was being sarcastic.

[kojacked]

Ah... global warming, world hunger, nukes everywhere, terrorism, failing schools, the economy, and on and on and on... Wake up you grammer nazis! There's a big old world out there full of problems much more importnat than this. Unbelieveable...

Oh and does it feel good to know that YOU WERE WRONG?!?!?!?

[gjl229]

Chris, I'm afraid PJ does NOT have it right.

Quotation marks in your graf and/or "sic" in his tweet would be correct, not to mention helpful. Simply repeating the error is .... um .... incorrect.

You wrote well, probably trying to meet a deadline, but made a small mistake. Why not fess up?

[Dalkorian]

Chris, don't let the fact that subtlety is lost on some discourage you. Some people just don't of a clue.

[yukonsooner]

Hey kojacked, the word is "grammar" not "grammer"... oops!

Also, you misspelled "unbelievable".

Now, on to solving the world hunger problem! *wink*

[littleM]

Guess this sort of thing didn't end with the Beatles.

[kenmccaz1]

Bieber said: ... the mall should of had proper security.
Author said: ... yes, it should of.

Should of ???
I believe you both mean should HAVE, do you not?

[Dalkorian]

facepalm

[Lerianis3]

This guy should have shown up at the signing. I am sorry, but when you make something like this public, you are supposed to show up whether you like it or not.
And if it was the police who were keeping this guy from showing up.... the police have some 'splaning' to do!

[gerrrg]

Funny. "Oh my gawd."

[smookish]

a loudhailer???

[Mergatroid Mania]

Yeah...lol. how about a bullhorn?

[Mr_fleabite]

or megaphone... is that one word I don't want to be attacked by the spelling Nazis above. Oh wait all they can do is hurl corrections. eh.

[gsna_dkm]

These charges will be dropped as a matter of logic. The exec refused to tweet and was arrested for "criminal nuisance, endangering the welfare of a minor, and obstructing government administration." The criminal nuisance was the gaggle of teenage girls. The endangerment was due to the behavior of the gaggle of teenage girls. As for the obstruction of government administration, there would have been no reason for the officers to assemble without the presence of the teenage girls. The exec has no culpability in this.

[ProfFrink]

I just wonder who they hoped to reach with "twittering"? I failed to see a single person checking their twitter account in the video? they were all too involved with talking with each other or photographing/video recording the event.

Besides, everyone knows Facebook is where it's at these days. lol jk

[sfens]

Many legal issues here.

This could be akin to yelling fire in a public place. Free speech is not always free. It can be seen as creating danger in a public place.

Also, I read reports that said he was arrested for not tweeting to cancel the signing. I also read that he continued to tweet that there was a signing. Not sure who is correct here,but if he did continue to tweet that there was a signing, he clearly was arrested for "doing" something as opposed to not doing something. That would get back to the point about yelling fire in a public place.

Lastly, since when do VP's not need to take an English class? Thank goodness others picked up on this.

Oh, and who is Justin Bieber?

[Mr_fleabite]

My fisrt thoughts when reading this...
Justin Bieber.
Who the eff is Justin Bieber?
Watching video...
okay, they want Justin.
oh look the running of the teenage girls, brilliant they are hearding them outside through the service doors.
aww they got back in, but they're on the 1st floor now.
who the eff is Justin.

[lfhlaw]

The other problem i see with this is that How many of those teenage girls subscribe to the executive's Twitter account? I know they would be perhaps signed onto Justin Bieber's Twitter, but a Record Label Executive's twitter account? I don't think so.

It would be like saying, Asking Britney Spear's Manager to twitter and say that she's running late, I doubt a single fan would be looking at a manager's twitter.

[yukonsooner]

Thank you for making a very logical comment. Clearly, the police don't know a thing about Twitter.

[Patrick5651]

It sounds like a planned "Stunt" useful to stretch their advertising dollar.

[John Steinbruner]

Insane.............

I have never used Twitter and never will...

To be arrested for not using such an inane service is insane...

[frankz00]

Ruh roh! Twitter has jumped the shark!

[sonicdivx]

Dang it! I thought this was the "Where's Paul Blart - The Mall Cop" video. I was sure I spotted him near the intimidating mall security golf cart.

I think when the charges are dropped the arresting officer should Facebook the apology, stick that Twitter!

[seriouslycgi]

"THROW THE FIRE ALARM" would be as easy as that, it probably would have been over safety capacity anyway.

[gggg sssss]

maybe Obama can get the cops and the teen idol to meet over a beer. Or are they all just white?

[DeviceGuy]

Well, security had one thing right, actually: try a loudhailer ONLY after attempting to reach them by text (of course, they forgot teens don't use Twitter). You can try hailing teens right next to you with a loudhailer and they won't hear ya! Eh, analog sound is lost on 'em anyway. Kids These Days...sheesh...