We all have known about freak incidences about someone innocent being hurt or even killed, over the confusion of a mistaken identity. But how would you feel when your means of entertainment is treated as something illegal and you are taken to task by the cops? Just one word to define it all – Miserable!
Well, a man walking on the streets of Stoke-on-Trent must have gone through the same emotions.
A 28-year-old man named Darren Nixon was followed, stopped and surrounded by armed police after they mistakenly supposed his Philips 4GB MP3 player to be a handgun, reported the Daily Mail.
The incident took place when Nixon alighted from a bus, when he was on his way back home from work. He was being followed through the entire journey on CCTV until he got off the bus.
Nixon said, “I got off [the bus] and started walking. I saw this cop gesture at me and at first I couldn’t hear what he was saying. I turned the music off and they were telling me to put my hands up in the air.â€
Adding, “As I got closer I could see that two of the cops had guns. There were two police dogs there as well. I was searched at the scene then hauled off to the station and interviewed.â€
Whilst justifying the entire frisking and interrogation that took place, the Stoke police stated that a woman had telephone them claiming to have seen a man using a handgun and it was their duty to trace any suspects that matched the description.
A police spokes said, “The description was extremely good and if that’s the report we get we have to act quickly.â€
Though Nixon has no previous criminal records, he was later released without charge. All the same he did have to provide DNA and fingerprint samples. We wonder what the police would do of the fingerprints, mugshots and DNA on record!
Nixon who seemed quite distraught about the incident said that this episode is quite a stain on his character.
