Well, here's a new one. A record label executive was arrested for not Tweeting. We're not talking about not pretending to be a bird, but rather for not posting a message on Twitter. This has to be a first in law enforcement.Canadian pop singer Justin Bieber was scheduled to appear at the Roosevelt Field mall in Garden City, NY for an album signing on Saturday. Thousands of teenage girls turned out to mob him. Unfortunately, Bieber didn't show; he stayed away because the crowd had become too unruly (which was probably the right move).
Fearing a riot, police asked a senior VP from Island Def Jam Records, Bieber's label to Tweet a message to the crowd to disperse. James A. Roppo, 44, of Hoboken, NJ, has been arrested for not Tweeting, with police saying he hindered their crowd-control efforts by not cooperating.
Roppo has been charged with family assault, endangering the welfare of a child, obstruction of governmental administration, reckless endangerment and criminal nuisance.
Police said that the assault charge stemmed from Roppo's "reckless behavior" which resulted in a minor injury to one police officer trying to control the crowd. Additionally, Diane Peress, Nassau assistant district attorney, said that Roppo created a "very dangerous situation" by failing to help police disperse the fans gathered on a second-floor balcony.
Whether or not Roppo did so, someone in the Bieber camp did send two Tweets. One was at 4:30 EST and said:
they are not allowing me to come into the mall. if you dont leave I and my fans will be arrested as the police just told us.Three minutes later, a second message:
the event at roosevelt mall is cancelled. please go home. the police have already arrested one person from my camp. I dont want anyone hurtRobin Charlow, criminal and constitutional law professor at Hofstra University told Newsday that "If you don't do something, you normally can't be charged for not acting. But if you have some kind of legal duty to act, that's when you could be charged."
Of course, looking at video of the event, does anyone think that a Tweet from a record executive would have made a difference? Probably not.
5 comments:
Oh My God! You're freaking kidding me right? Arrested for not TWITTERING!!!! What in the hell is law enforcement coming to if not twittering is a misdemeaner. I don't know what I'd do if I heard it was a felony!! Next, will Taco Bell be our fine dining cuisine of choice??
hey frank did you see demolition man
The arresting detective was Kevin Smith... heh i'm surprised... maybe he was really making a new film?
Yeah, we saw this too, and thought it was quite something. As communications consultants we always tell our clients to consider all possible implications about any communication they are about to send out before they do it. This is a new one, but on reflection, it could have been foreseen given the subject (a teen heartthrob), the choice of social media to do the messaging, and an audience of excitable pre-teens and teens. May want to check out our blog on the same subject at http://tinyurl.com/cugcpd.
Post a Comment