Arrest for Saying Santa's Not Real? Man Detained for Telling Children 'There's No Santa'
Canadian police have arrested an intoxicated man for running around at the annual Santa Claus parade telling kids that Santa Claus was not real. The Kingston, Ontario police tweeted about their capture and gave an interview as to why they took the man into custody.
According to Kingston Police media relations officer Steve Koopman, the man was arrested for public intoxication, disturbing the peace, and breach of probation. People at the annual Santa Claus parade reported that a man was moving through the crowd telling children "the truth" about Santa Claus, saying that he wasn't real.
"It hits every officer," Koopman told the Canadian National Post, "as most of us have children ourselves. Some people have been saying, 'We didn't know police arrested for [what they say is] telling the truth.' Some of us may disagree with that. In all honesty, he was disturbing everyone there are on the thoroughfare."
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"He was disturbing the families, obviously disturbing the children. We felt it very necessary to take him off the street and think the charges were warranted," Koopman explained.
In an interesting addition to the story, Kingston noted that the person arrested had his hair gelled into two "horns," making him look like the famous Grinch from the Christmas classic, "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas." Those familiar with the case have tweeted several jokes about the defendant and the size of his heart.
"It must be microscopic!" tweeted Jacqueline Barker, referring to a line in the story.
"His heart must be many sizes too small," Koopman tweeted through the Kingston Police's account.
Fortunately for the defendant, he was granted bail the next day because the charges were minor. He was told not to imbibe any alcohol or violate his parole again. And as Koopman noted, "At the end of the day, we were all just wanting to have a wonderful and enjoyable parade, which it was."
