Times Square. Perhaps the best known piece of real estate on the planet. We all know it. We all love it.
And we all share it with dozens, if not hundreds, of character actors.
But recently Minnie Mouse, Olaf from Frozen and the Cookie Monster were all arrested in Times Square by the NYPD for harassing and threatening a tourist for money.
Unfortunately this is not an isolated incident and has been happening with great frequency. Not too long ago (on December 11, 2015) I blogged about a Times Square “Hulk” who had been arrested for disorderly conduct and obstruction of justice – stemming from an incident with a tourist who didn’t want to pay for a photograph – and who (the same human that was donning the Hulk costume) had previously been arrested for punching a cop while dressed up as Spider Man – also stemming from an incident with a tourist who didn’t want to pay for a photograph (you can read that blog post by clicking here).
In this case Minnie Mouse, Olaf from Frozen and the Cookie Monster had reportedly posed for a photo with a tourist. As the tourist moved away the characters began to follow him, demanding that he hand over money for the photo. It got to the point where the characters blocked the man’s path and insisted that he pay them $20.00, and, as a direct result of intimidation, the tourist eventually handed over $10.00.
Unfortunately for the douche baggerous character actors a real life hero was watching… a NYPD officer spotted the gang of characters and their civilian victim, he promptly diagnosed the situation, interrupted the shake down and arrested all three role-players on harassment charges.
Because of numerous complaints of tourists being hassled for money by character actors the NYPD now has a Times Square Task Force. But, on occasion, even the cops get a little help… like this Mickey Mouse who teed off on another Cookie Monster, reportedly in defense of a civilian / tourist.
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