Man Arrested For Wearing a "Grinch" Mask In Public
 

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20050526/D8AAUV9G0.html

Man Arrested for Wearing Grinch Mask


http://www.drudgereport.com/gm.jpg


May 26, 11:47 AM (ET)


WHEELING, W.Va. (AP) - City and county attorneys are defending Wheeling police who arrested a man for wearing a Grinch mask while walking along a city street.

Norman Eugene Gray, 42, was arrested Tuesday. He was arraigned and released on a personal recognizance bond.

Officers saw Gray about 8:45 a.m. Tuesday, told him to take the mask off and not put it on again. Gray removed it and asked why he could not wear it, according to Wheeling police reports. Officers told him wearing masks in public is illegal.

Gray said he felt he had a right to wear it and said it was not illegal. He put the mask back on and was arrested. The mask was confiscated.

Wheeling City Solicitor Rosemary Humway-Warmuth and Ohio County Prosecutor Scott Smith said masks as well as dark window tinting in vehicles can pose a safety hazard to law enforcement officers and hinder efforts to identify criminal suspects.

"When we think about masks, we don't always think of Halloween," Humway-Warmuth said.

Smith said wearing a mask or hood in public is a misdemeanor under state law, punishable by a fine of up to $500 or up to a year in jail, or both. Children up to 16 years old can wear masks. Traditional Halloween masks, safety gear used in occupations, theatrical productions, civil defense or protection from bad weather also are legal.

Sounds reasonable. He was told not to wear it, he did it anyway. He got arrested. Boo fucking hoo. He should also be charged with felony stupidity.

fucking dumbass

what an idiot

sorry, but when did we raise the fascist regime?

maybe i wasn't around for the swearing in ceremony

It's an illegal law. It abridges free speech. People can wear whatever clothing they want.

no kidding.

some of the observations on here sound like they would have applauded the brownshirts.

tell that to the KKK and the nudists

Facist regime? :1orglaugh

It was a 42 year old man wearing a grinch mask for no apparent reason. People that wear masks are usually up to something. The law exists for a reason. Try walking into a bank in a hat and sunglasses...let alone a grinch mask.

Welcome to the land of the free

What a crock of shit!

Yeah it's pretty stupid to wear a mask in the middle of the day while walking down the street. But that guy has a right to look like an idiot if he chooses to.

haha thats the first thing i tohught too, guy was probably all fucked up on something.

Not if it causes people to panic and call the police thinking that he's either about to do something or just did.

It's easier to reply with pictures than actually thinking, isn't it?

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i agree with this statement

i second that

what kind of society do you want to live in, when someone can't even wear a grinch mask in public if one wants to?

oh yeah...........the same kind of society where the gov't tells those posting 'dirty nude pictures' to have records of every single bitty thing in order for the gov't to better harrass these producers of 'dirty pictures', all the while saying its because its 'best for us' and 'daddy gov't knows best'.

sounds like the church in the 16th century if you ask me.

Tell that to NYC. It's been illegal there for a while.

Hurray for 'small gov't' republicans.

Libertarian!

Comparing the two is insane. It's idiots like you who give liberal pussies a bad name.

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no way. this federal gov't is setting some ominous tones lately for the republican voting sheep to follow, in the name of 'they know what is right' and 'they know what is good for us' while they wave the bible in the air.

and just watch bush try and push a right-wing nutjob on us for the Supreme Court. rembember robert bork? is that what you want?

Yeah, it's pretty tempting to reply with a bunch of pictures and I reckon that I came close to doing just that.

He caused people to panic because of a Grinch mask. For the exception of wearing a Grinch mask, Tthe article makes no mention of him being as much as suspected of having done any wrongdoings.

According to your own logic, it would be okay to just stop about everybody on the street, with or without disguise, simply because they cause people to panic. Well, sorry to say but if causing people to panic is good enough a reason to get arrested, I'll have a real hard time getting out for breakfast on my hungover sunday mornings.

I third that, but I also expect leniency for anyone who inadvertantly harms him in panic "self defense" :upsidedow

The law in this article is a state law not a Federal law. You cannot wear a Grinch mask in West Virginia. For your Kanadians and Euroidiots this will be difficult for you to understand but states sometimes have their own laws.

:1orglaugh

Who the fuck said it was a federal law? Thanks for pointing out the obvious, jackass.

You can't reason with ultra-liberal nutjobs. I think they have their Birkenstocks on too tight. Everything that happens in the US that they don't like, they will reply with idiotic banter like "facist state" and "communists."

It depends on what they are doing. Wearing a grinch mask for no apparent reason is cause to be suspicious of that person. Generally, if you cause people to panic or fear for their safety you are violating the law (and for good reason). This is similar to yelling "FIRE" in a crowded theater and then when you are being arrested trying to claim that the government is infringing on your right to free speech.

how about a gas mask? can i walk down your street with my briefcase wearing a gas mask? people associate certain things with certain activities. masks are worn by 12 year olds during Halloween and people causing havoc who dont want their identity revealed. unless this guy is retarded and doesn't understand that, he should of followed the order from the police to remove it and keep it off.

I have been approached a few times by police officers when walking late at night in a quiet neighborhood. The routine I've gone through is to usually be asked who I am and what I'm doing. Once I told them, they might ask a few more questions to see if my story checks out. Once they figure it does, they just let me be.

This by no means makes me an expert on what police procedure is, but it would be fair to say that the whole quizzing a suspicious looking guy thing for cops is similar from one city to another.

That being said, I'll go so far as agreeing that wearing a grinch mask can make one seem suspicious to a police officer. He actually did look suspicious hence why he was approached. Once they figured out that his only "crime" was to wear this mask, they should have left him alone. Falsely yelling "FIRE" is an actual crime so the analogy doesn't really match.

So Halloween is illegal there right. I mean do the cops arrest 1000's of kids on Oct 31st?

So a cop approaches you and asks "Who are you and why are you wearing this?" You tell them and if the story is that you're just a weirdo en route to a fart-o-thon, they let you go.

It's if you go with the "Ahmmmmmmm, I'mmmmmm, you know hmmmmmm, going to work..." as a story that the cops should pick you up.

So is wearing a mask for no apparent reason hence this thread.

read post #1
children up to 16 years old are allowed to wear masks.

wtf! :1orglaugh :1orglaugh :1orglaugh