Oops: Cops Mistake MP3 Player for Handgun

Police in Stratfordshire, UK, arrested mechanic Darren Nixon this week... for the crime of listening to his MP3 player in public. No, it's not a crime to listen to music in Britain. The fuzz mistook his music player for a gun.

I guess I can sort-of vaguely see how a black, palm-sized MP3 player with wires snaking out of it could be construed as a handgun, but I fail to understand how the police could let the situation escalate to the point where Nixon was thrown in jail, interviewed, fingerprinted, mugshotted, and forced to give a DNA sample

According to the Daily Mail, the trouble began when a nosy citizen said they saw a man remove a handgun from his jacket, "grip it with both hands and aim it towards something."A curiosity from the tale: Because he was listening to music, Dixon couldn't hear the cops approaching behind him. When a search found no weapon on his person, the cops later went to search the area where he'd been apprehended. When they found nothing, Dixon was released. It's all something to keep in mind when you're out in public and wearing headphones.

Nixon has since received an apology from the cops, but is still concerned that the arrest (especially considering his totally clean record) will leave a "stain on his character."

What's the takeaway here? Aside from the obvious lessons about police overzealousness, now we know why it makes sense not to get the black MP3 player.

LINK: Man arrested at gunpoint after police mistake his MP3 player for a gun