NC Man Arrested for Not Returning Rental VHS Tape 14 Years Ago

[WhiteTara]

http://abcnews.go.com/US/nc-man-arrested-returning-rental-vhs-tape-14/story?id=37897366

A North Carolina man says he was arrested for not returning a video cassette tape he rented 14 years ago.

James Meyers Jr., a single dad from Concord, said he was driving his 10-year-old daughter to school at around 7:30 a.m. Tuesday when police pulled him over for a broken brake light. Meyers gave the police officers his driver’s license and was shocked when they said there was a warrant out for his arrest for not returning a VHS rental, "Freddy Got Fingered," from 2002, he said.

"They were chitchatting with me and talking about how ridiculous this is," Meyers told ABC News today. "Then they arrested me.

"Because I had my daughter in the car and we were on the way to school they said that I could take my daughter to school and go to work and then find a babysitter, and then come into the police and turn myself in."

[Vinca]

1. There must be a statute of limitation on petty crimes like this.

Of course, it is North Carolina . . .

[Baobab]

5. They have to use up their jail cells, perhaps, or all that money paid to the private firm is wasted?

just hypothesizing, i don't know anything about the situation and too disgusted to look it up.

nt

[Heeeeers Johnny]

10. As petty as it is, The crime is immaterial, there is no statute of limitation on an active warrant.

[Logical]

15. So they can still find him guilty? Nt

[Heeeeers Johnny]

22. IANAL - If they want to be real dicks about it?

Possibly, I'm not certain how the system plays out in a situation like this where the person(s) whom filed
the original complaint are long gone and are unavailable (or unwilling), to testify or drop the charges.

Not mentioned in the article is if there's a failure to appear in court charge stemming from the original charge.

As messed up as the legal system is, I would expect the charges to be dropped and the case dismissed,
but... I also have zero faith in the courts doing the right and/or sensible thing.

[liberalhistorian]

2. I first read about this on FB this morning

and it's the stupidest most inane fucking thing I've heard in a long time. And given what we've been dealing with lately nationally, that's saying a lot.

Did the now-defunct store ever hear of civil collections actions to recoup property or of, perhaps, letting shit go after a certain amount of time? This should be immediately dismissed.

How many of us have forgotten about library books or rented tapes? Almost every single person I know. I guess everything is criminalized now. Fucking ridiculous.

[Hoyt]

3. I'd punish him too for watching that junk.

[underpants]

6. I was going to say - maybe he was just embarrassed to take it back

[Hoyt]

7. Good defense.

[snooper2]

9. That one wasn't too bad, the followup "Freddie Got Fingered 2" was the really crappy one

[Hassin Bin Sober]

14. That's the finger that keeps on giving.

Stupid, yes, but you get it in the end.

[DURHAM D]

4. Given that the video store has been out of business for

a decade won't this just be dismissed?

Waste of tax payer dollars.

[Nye Bevan]

8. I'm pretty sure Roger Ebert said that was the worst movie he ever saw.

Yep:

This movie doesn't scrape the bottom of the barrel. This movie isn't the bottom of the barrel. This movie isn't below the bottom of the barrel. This movie doesn't deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence with barrels.

http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/freddy-got-fingered-2001

[mahatmakanejeeves]

17. I started to read the review. You should put a trigger alert on that. NT

[flying rabbit]

11. At least all of the authorities involved realize the idiocy

and seem to be hassling him as little as possible(within the limits of what they are required to do). The arrest is probably going to get thrown out of court.

[1939]

18. The officers did play it well

If they wanted to be assholes, they could have had him up against the hood getting cuffed with his daughter turned over to child protective services and the car towed.

One of the bennies he got for not getting hostile with them when they pulled him over.

[LanternWaste]

20. And for being in one particular demographic rather than another.

"One of the bennies he got for not getting hostile..."

And for being in one particular demographic rather than another.

[Mosby]

12. the warrant should have been civil

It was filed as a criminal warrant hence the arrest.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

13. Must have had the same reaction to that film I did

Stopped on it one night on HBO. Began to feel numb, then slipped into a coma.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

16. I was at a Goodwill (actually two of them) on Tuesday. Videotapes are now four for a dollar.

They're down to the Tom Hanks rom-coms. I doubt that they had anything this bad.

I'm not going back to look.

[skypilot]

19. I don't understand...

...how it could even get to the point of an arrest. How do/did video stores operate in NC? Every video store I've ever dealt with required you to leave a credit card number on file. If you didn't have a credit card you'd leave a deposit. If you didn't return the video after a certain amount of time your credit card was debited for the cost of the video or the amount was taken from your deposit. What the fuck is going on in NC?

[Initech]

21. Renting Freddie Got Fingered should be a crime in and of itself.