Lara Croft Mannequin Results In Police Raid And Arrest

from the overreact-much? dept

If you thought Shaquille O’Neal raiding the wrong house for child porn was bizarre, how about this next story? Engadget points us to the story of a group of armed police who burst into a house after seeing the silhouette of a life-sized Lara Croft mannequin. Yes, the Lara Croft from Tomb Raider. Apparently, the guy in question had bought the mannequin and was trying to sell it on eBay. His “mistake” was leaving it too close to a window. The guy had called the cops — but to report some “nuisance calls,” which resulted in the police sending someone around to see what was going on. It was then that they spotted the mannequin and thought it was a real person holding a real gun. Now, you’d think that once they realized their mistake they would sheepishly go away — but instead, they arrested the guy for a “suspected firearm offense.” It’s entirely unclear from the article if that “suspected firearm offense” is because of Lara Croft holding a fake gun… or because of some other gun in his house, but his lawyers still expect to make a claim for wrongful arrest, no matter what the reasoning.


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Comments on “Lara Croft Mannequin Results In Police Raid And Arrest”

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36 Comments
claire rand (user link) says:

needs to be made clear this is in the uk..

however its one thing being arrested for ‘x’, its common to release without charge some time later. I can’t see this going anywhere it sounds like plod deciding after making the firearms support call they needed to bag someone for *something* to justify the cost.

the irony of course is the guy the nicked is the one who called them to report something else. bet next time he hears a funny noise he’ll ignore it.

Sanguine Dream says:

Re: Re: ????

Education isn’t the point here its understanding. If you investigate and discover there is nothing and you still act as if something is going down then you knew it was nothing right?

I know you were really amped up for the chance to score a witty remark espcially after reading comment #5. But see along with name calling commentor #5 actually made a counter argument.

Now perhaps if you had questioned my comment instead of blindly attacking me then you may have been on to something but since you just wanted to make a quick clever remark I’ll simply tell you to look before leaping next time.

Mike says:

Re: Re: Re: ????

Are you retarded or just have a hard time reading?

How would the police know they had anything, until they actually got inside and saw what was going on? I’ll say again, “they can’t see thru walls”.

I’d have a battle of the wits with you, but clearly you’ve come unarmed.

Anonymous Coward says:

Re: ????

I’m going to assume that there was a gun elsewhere on the premises.

The article didn’t mention anything about a gun, but it did say “…Lara Croft remains impounded as evidence.” So it would seem they may intend to charge him with a crime for possessing the doll, I would guess as some sort of “unlawful replica firearm”.

Mike says:

Nick is a moron

I bet if Boston hadn’t reacted to a threat and someone got hurt you would bitch then too wouldnt you? But they try and be proactive about something and get pushed under the bus for it. Get a grip you dolt, educate yourself and stop bashing others for “trying” to do right. At least they are trying and not just bashing others.

Casper says:

Re: Nick is a moron

I bet if Boston hadn’t reacted to a threat and someone got hurt you would bitch then too wouldnt you? But they try and be proactive about something and get pushed under the bus for it. Get a grip you dolt, educate yourself and stop bashing others for “trying” to do right. At least they are trying and not just bashing others.

Trying to do right? The same week they blew up cartoon characters, they blow up a DOT traffic counter…

There is a difference between caution and paranoia. Seriously, if I pulled the fire alarm every time I thought I smelled smoke or saw a flicker of light that might be a fire, they would arrest me on the spot. Maybe Boston shouldn’t blow up everything that looks suspicious (although they don’t really have a definition of what is suspicious other then it’s a little out of place)?

Stuart says:

Re: Nick is a moron AKA Mike is a moron

The boston PD are idiots. Unless you think its smart to think that everything is bomb. Is that what you think? You think that the government should have absolute and far reaching powers to keep us safe no matter the cost? Or is it that you are part of the PD there or somwhere else and your stupidity is really just a knee jerk reaction to take the side of PD’s everywhere.

zcat says:

paranoia

“You’re more likely to be killed by your own appendix than a terrorist.”

Honestly, there are a shitload of things that kill more people than terrorists, and a lot of those lives could be saved at _far_ less cost than the current ‘war of terror’. But it’s fun to run around with guns and go blowing shit up, right?

T.J. says:

Also...

Isn’t it illegal to prosecute someone for articles found in the house unless they have a warrant specifying the exact articles. IE, I know it’s illegal to arrest someone if you have a search warrant to go into their house for illegal firearms and find drugs, until you obtain a warrant authorizing a search for drugs.

Dustin says:

“Isn’t it illegal to prosecute someone for articles found in the house unless they have a warrant specifying the exact articles. IE, I know it’s illegal to arrest someone if you have a search warrant to go into their house for illegal firearms and find drugs, until you obtain a warrant authorizing a search for drugs.”

1. This took place in England; I’m sure their laws aren’t the same as America.

2. If a police officer gets a warrant to search a house on ‘suspicion of illegal firearms activity’ and in the process of their search they find drugs/child porn/bomb making materials/etc… they are well within the scope of the law to arrest the owner of the house. It falls under the “plain sight” rules, if the cop’s authorized to search something by warrant or it’s in plain sight of a public place they can act on it.

dave williams says:

to you all

hi i am the victim! i had no guns found in the house never owned one,i phoned cops for nusance phone call and the next thing i knew i had armed police pointing guns at me!even when they found they had made mistake they still kept me 13 hours and did not let lara go for 5 days and when returnd she had 4 broken fingers to her left had not the one she holds the gun in,thanks for the support
dave

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