It’s not every day that you get to see Chuck E. Cheese getting arrested. Well, maybe in your Florida Man neck of the woods it is, but for most people, it’s not a common occurrence. After all, what’s the motivation to arrest someone while in costume, in front of children, at a Chuck E. Cheese? There’s a lot of questions to be answered and asked in a situation like this, and it’s all thanks to some events that unfolded earlier this month in Tallahassee.
Back in June, a woman went to a party at a Chuck E. Cheese and noticed there were some odd charges on her credit card that began showing up. It was only about $100 but they were noteworthy enough that she looked into them deeper and connected the activity to an employee from the Chuck E. Cheese she had been to. She notified the police of this and on July 23rd, officers went to the pizza and arcade establishment to make an arrest. Now, they weren’t intending to take someone away in full Chuck E. Cheese uniform but things may have necessitated that.
As officers approached and advised the suspect to come along with them to perform the arrest outside and away from the public, the man allegedly tensed up and resisted. Concerned for what the costumed employee might do next, officers stated they acted in the interest of safety and performed the arrest right there. After they got him outside they removed the head off of the costume, put it on the roof of the police vehicle, and officially detained Jermell Jones.
Tallahassee police spokeswoman, Alicia Hill noted that officers are advised to use their own discretion when it comes to arresting someone in a public place. Obviously, the safety of those around a suspect has to be taken into consideration, but an observer could also easily look at something and question the discretion being used. To say that someone tensed up when police approached them doesn’t actually sound too out of the ordinary. Wouldn’t you tense up a bit if the police were asking for you? And how much resistance did the man put up? Potentially not enough to make onlookers wonder why it had to go down the way things did.
Ultimately, no one was hurt, except maybe the pride of the Chuck E. Cheese corporation. Even though this situation had nothing to do with the company itself, it’s never really a good look when your mascot is being taken out of the store in handcuffs. It does make you wonder though, when Chuck E. Cheese gets arrested, does he get to pay his bail in arcade tokens or prize tickets?
