Oops: Cops Mistake MP3 Player for Handgun

Wed Feb 13, 2008 11:48AM EST

See Comments (105)

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 

Comments on Oops: Cops Mistake MP3 Player for Handgun

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  • 7 Posted by extreme_apple on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:57PM EDT Report Abuse

    Please, rogueist, Id like to give cops a little more credit than that. This is just a case of a few bad apples giving the rest a bad name. The only person I see comparing how "bad" the US is here is you.

  • 8 Posted by jmulrooney on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:37PM EDT Report Abuse

    Don't be too quick to dump on the US cops. A man in the UK was shot dead because cops thought he was carrying a sawn off shotgun. The "gun" turned out to be a wooden table leg! Here's the link http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2005/may/13/ukguns.hughmuir And let's not forget the foreign student who was chased down by an undercover cop on the London underground a few days after the London bombings in 2005. When the student ran to catch a train the cop tackled him and blew his head off in front of all the other passengers. Turned out the student was just that, a student with a backpack running to catch a train. Incidents like this were unheard of in the UK until fairly recently because...cops didn't have guns!

  • 9 Posted by agustin2489 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:47PM EDT Report Abuse

    rogueist, wouldn't that be going a bit too far? I know that in the UK, it's illegal to carry any weapons (and obviously use). Even the police have to sign out whenever they're going to use a handgun for patrols, etc. It's understandable why the situation escalated like it did but I still don't like how Orwellian this can all become.

  • 10 Posted by kendall_chong on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:49PM EDT Report Abuse

    I would hope that the story is an EXTREME example and that it doesn't happen very often. Hopefully the guy got the apology in writing. The "Concerned Citizen" should be educated on what a firearm looks like. But you don't want to punish the Citizen too much, lest they hesitate to report something that could actually be life threatening.

  • 11 Posted by maleman14001 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:04PM EDT Report Abuse

    If the people in the UK were still allowed to own firearms then maybe the cops there might know what a real gun looked like. Once the 2nd Amendment is taken away from the citizens of the United States then we can scare off criminals with IPods and tazer them with MP3 players.

  • 12 Posted by bridoyal on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:13PM EDT Report Abuse

    If you think the US is so bad compared to other countries...maybe it is time to pack your bags.

  • 13 Posted by millerdavid2002 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:20PM EDT Report Abuse

    Only arrested him. Lucky. These days they shoot first and ask questions afterwards.

  • 14 Posted by minolta300si on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:21PM EDT Report Abuse

    how can the cops recognise a gun when they dont even carry any......................... if its black it got to be a gun!!! they dumb enough to arrest people for taking pictures............ gunless cops

  • 15 Posted by shkawamoto on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:20PM EDT Report Abuse

    This is why you don't ASSUME someone is pointing a gun unless there is a victim he is pointing the gun at. People do not point guns in the middle of a town for fun. The mp3 guy should sue the town he was arrested in.

  • 16 Posted by rosie1ervin on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:51PM EDT Report Abuse

    FOR ONE THING THE NOSY PERSON SHOULD HAD MIND HIS OWN BUSINESS, AND ANOTHER THING, THE POLICE SHOULD HAVE NOT ARRESTED THE PERSON WHEN THEY CHECKED HIM OUT. NOW THE YOUNG MAN HAVE A RECORD THAT WILL FOLLOW HIM FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE. THANKS NOSY PERSON.

  • 17 Posted by col78in on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:28PM EDT Report Abuse

    There some cases of US cops a bit too ready to shoot...In Iowa back in the 90s the cops mistook a phone in a guy's hand for a gun and shot him (he had his back turned to his studio's door , which was open, they thought it was a robbery) in the back of the head killing him. The cop didn't say anything and the guy he shot never saw it coming. I guess this guy in the UK was lucky these cops weren't as quick to shoot. Nothing ever happened to the cop he just had to move away.

  • 18 Posted by lance_gulseth on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:56PM EDT Report Abuse

    Not sure I understand the post from, roguist. It WASN'T in the US. Just becouse you conjecture some silly scenario of what would have happened "if" this was in the US, doesn't make it so. BTW - cops make mistakes everywhere - they are human.

  • 19 Posted by catwooman2008 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:19PM EDT Report Abuse

    I THING THE COP SHOULD OF CAME TO UP TO THE GUY AND LOOKED CLOSER AND CECKED IT OUT. THEN ARRESED THE GUY IF IT WAS A REAL GUN WHAT IS HAPPEN TO OUR COUNTRY THESE DAYS

  • 20 Posted by leifang_chan_xo on Thu Sep 3, 2009 6:48PM EDT Report Abuse

    this is why you don't assume; ASSUME makes an a** out of u and me. LOL But seriously, this isn't funny. I wouldn't go as far as to sue the town, guys. Maybe the nosy citizen, but not the town. And another thing, why did they throw him in jail if they didn't find a gun? I mean, what the heck is that all about?! Simply ridiculous.

  • 21 Posted by nycznumba1coolguy on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:42PM EDT Report Abuse

    first of all, any police of anywhere should know, why would a person hold a gun up (even if it wasnt) in front of everyone. i guess something was wrong with the nosy guy who left a stain at the clean man's record. Any police should know when to use a gun and when not to, the police are just too anxious to use a gun and most likely kill someone. I think that the police shouldnt carry guns with bullets but instead they should create a gun that could instantly make the guy faint, even in the head. lets say a man really does have a gun and the police see that the man has a gun but the guy doesn't see the police. the police should go and shoot the guy, thus leading the guy to be alive, but fainted. isn't it possible?

  • 22 Posted by bayareaspa on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:03PM EDT Report Abuse

    The guy was probably, Black or some type of dark minority, and that is Britain, he wil never sue for that, as it would never go to court, Euope and the UK are not the US.

  • 23 Posted by wayne_11213 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:42PM EDT Report Abuse

    Well its a good thing he is not in the USA he would have shot 23 times just for carrying that MP3,I really don't know why cops are so trigger happyI guess its shoot first and ask questions later.

  • 24 Posted by sae_sawanoguchi_magicuser on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:59PM EDT Report Abuse

    You guys are overreacting a bit. Yes, the fruit who thought an MP3 player was a gun needs to work on her observation skills, but the rest isn't that outrageous. The cops probably just wanted to get him into the system, on the off chance that it turned out that he did have a gun stashed somewhere. Recording evidence against anything that happens in his area, in the future. Rosie1ervin, he does NOT have a record that will follow him for the rest of his life. Good lord. You get a criminal record from being convicted of a crime. The only record they have of him is his photo, DNA, and fingerprints. Unless they make it illegal to have DNA and fingerprints, there's no criminal record.

  • 25 Posted by gstanci on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:14PM EDT Report Abuse

    I am not sure that arresting the citizen is a good idea, as it will make others afraid to report any legitimate threats. But, I think the man with the player should at least file a complaint, or suit, against the nosy man for 1. defamation of character, 2.reporting falsified information to authorities, and 3.slander. It seems like he was just a busy-body who wanted to see police come and arrest the man for "entertainment." Send him a clear message, while not dissuading others to report serious threats.

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