Tech Shout!

It’s a Gun! It’s a Taser! No… It’s just a plain ol’ MP3 Player! This is the story of a 28-year old mechanic in the UK who was arrested at gunpoint by armed police after his MP3 player was mistaken for a gun.

As he was commuting home from work by bus, Darren Nixon, 28 was chased by three police cars. Finally, the officers managed to confront him, 150 meters from his home. Armed with guns, they asked him to raise his hands in the air, much like what an armed criminal would be asked to do.

Apparently, when Nixon was changing tracks on his black Philips MP3 player, an identified passenger on the bus, raised the alarm, thinking that Nixon held a gun. The passenger then tipped off the police.

Nixon said, “I was shocked and had no idea what was going on. That was when I took my earphones out and they were shouting at me not to make any sudden movements. I dread to think what might have happened if I’d put my hand in my pocket. My legs turned to jelly as they handcuffed me and read me my rights.”

The police station officers searched and fingerprinted him and then took a DNA swab, after which Nixon was released. It will be kept on file that he was arrested.

“It was unreal- I had a completely clean record before this and have always been a law-abiding citizen,” he sadly said.